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Offending motorists rampant as Borough comes in second only to Belfast

Motoring offences across the ABC Borough are rampant – so much so it sits second only to Belfast in as the worst offending area in Northern Ireland.

Armagh, Banbridge and Craigavon sits behind only Belfast for the highest levels of motoring offences in Northern Ireland.

More than 21,600 people in Northern Ireland have been banned from driving for motoring offences in the five years up to the end of 2017.

This is according to data from the Driver and Vehicle Agency (DVA), which, on average, is more than 4,300 a year.

A staggering 10,000 of these were for drink or drugs offences, with 2,233 being guilty of driving whilst disqualified.

More than one-third of the 21,660 drivers found themselves off the road for between six months and a year.

These figures were obtained by BBC News NI under a Freedom of Information request.

DVA data shows that there were 9,875 people convicted of drink/drug-related offences between 2013 and 2017 and 9,380 for insurance-related convictions that were disqualified.

There were 918 drivers convicted for hit and run offences and 434 for using a mobile phone.

There were also 1,487 people who were convicted for “totting-up” – this being receiving if 12 or more penalty points within three years.

PSNI statistics on motoring offences do make for much better reading with a total of 50,124 motoring offences recorded between June 1 of last year and May 31 this year.

Armagh, Banbridge and Craigavon came in second for motoring offences – with 7,935- which was an increase of over 80 offences on last year.

Newry, Mourne and down saw a decrease in offences on the previous year of around 7% with its total at 4,878.

These statistics also showed those aged 30-49 years old accounted for two-fifths (40.8%) of motoring offences detected, followed by those aged 18-29 -with 38%.

Males also accounted for almost 8 in 10 of all motoring offences detected during this period.

PSNI Newry and Mourne this week posted a warning on social media.

“We will continue to carry out check points seeking out disqualified drivers, those driving without insurance, those driving under the influence of drink or drugs and any other motoring offences,” it read.

“And we will continue to deploy our speed detection devices (aka hairdryers) in areas where there have been collisions where roads users have been seriously injured or killed and in those areas where the community have highlighted concerns.”

In addressing the “have you nothing better to be doing?” brigade, the message added: “Speed kills. That’s why we check speeds in particular areas”.

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