I was driving to work this morning and I heard on the radio that our minster for transport is meeting today with his Northern Irish and English counterparts to try to close a legal loop hole which allows some drivers, who have been banned from driving in the republic, to gain either UK or Northern Irish driving licenses, thus allowing them to keep driving on our roads. It never ceases to amaze me that these kinds of loop holes exist - I mean is it not kind of obvious that if someone is applying for a drivers license the office should check to see if they have been banned from driving elsewhere? Surely this is a very important piece of information? It seems crazy to me that in a climate where learner drivers are being given more stringent rules to follow and systems such as the points system are being brought in to try to make our roads safer for everyone, we still have a loop hole that can allow someone who has been told they can no longer drive to do so by applying for their license across the boarder!!!

The number of road deaths in the country is a disgrace, 141 people have died already in 2008, you can see the breakdown of the stats here.

Let’s hope they close this loop hole asap and that the people giving out the licenses have the ability to turn such people down immediately