The Minister for Transport, Seamus Brennan, has confirmed that from this weekend, careless driving will become the latest offence to attract penalty points.
Five penalty points will be imposed for careless driving if convicted by a court.
Mr Brennan also said that those caught using mobile phones while driving will incur one penalty point.
This move will not be introduced until later this year but the minister said that if a garda forms the view that careless driving was caused by the use of a mobile phone in the car, then a driver will be penalised for careless driving.
New testing agency announced
The minister also announced that a new agency will take over the country's driver testing service to clear waiting lists and enforce new standards for driving tests.
There are currently 120,000 people waiting to do their driving tests, which Mr Brennan describes as unacceptably high.
Currently 200,000 drivers are tested each year, but another 15,000 do not show up for their tests, and a further 6,500 fail to comply with test requirements.
He said the new Driver Testing and Standards Authority, to be based in Ballina in Co Mayo, will be established within a few months and will undertake a number of initiatives to cut the waiting lists including the recruitment of extra testers.
Mr Brennan was speaking at the official opening of a new section of the N7 outside Limerick City which will link Annacotty with Rosbrien, as part of the €106m Southern ring road project.
It will take an estimated 10,000 cars a day out of the city centre gridlock, free up roads at Castletroy and Dooradoyle, and cut an estimated 30 minutes off the journey from the Dublin road on the north of the city, to the Cork and Kerry roads on the southside.
