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ing the fine at a Post Office. In this way a defaulter who
wishes to pay his fine and take out a new licence at the
same time would be facilitated.
(12) The delivery of a notice under section 103
(Fine Notice) is an optional matter for the prosecuting
officer and in the case of any breach of the regulations
he may abstain from delivering the notice and instead
may institute a prosecution.
(13) The Committee are of opinion that the extension
of the system to offences under the Road Traffic Regula-
tions made in regard to equipment and lighting of
mechanically propelled vehicles would bring in its train
one very important result apart from the saving of court
time and police time. The particular result we have in
mind is the opportunity to have equipment defects
corrected before these defects lead to accidents. The
present position is that prosecutions in regard to in-
fringements of thfese regulations are brought mainly
after the occurrence of road accidents. The public in-
terest would, of course, be best served by having an
efficient and expeditious system in operation whereby
these infringements could be detected and remedied as
soon as possible. The "On the Spot Fines" system would
seem to provide the answer if the wording of the Fine
Notice were expanded to require the offender, when
paying his fine at the appropriate Garda Station to
produce the vehicle to show that the defect or defects
in question had been remedied. We recommend that
this course be adopted.
(14) The Committee has also given some considera-
tion to the question as to whether the Fine Notice
(expanded as indicated in paragraph 13) might re-
quire the offender to get, within a specified period after
the service of the notice, a clearance certificate from
the Garda Siochana to the effect that the vehicle has
complied in all respects with the equipment and light-
ing regulations. However, we do not recommend this
course in view of the extra demand on police time
that would be involved.
(15) With a view to making the preventive aspect
of the system more effective, we recommend that a
notice be published in the daily press from time to
time warning the public that the enforcement of parti-
cular regulations under the Road Traffic Acts (parti-
cularly in regard to equipment of mechanically pro-
pelled vehicles) would be actively pursued during a
particular stated period. We feel that this would be a
useful reminder to the public and an indication that
the law was more concerned with securing the remedy
of defects rather than fining defaulters.
(16) The recommendations in this report are those
of all the members of the Committee save to the
extent that the Hon. Mr. Justice John Kenny has set
out in his Note of Dissent which is appended hereto.
Signed : Brian Walsh,
Chairman
23rd July 1971
J. K. Waldron,
Secretary
NOTE OF DISSENT BY THE
HON. Mr. JUSTICE KENNY
(1) I do not agree with the recommendation in
paragraph 8(1) that the "On the Spot Fines" system
should be applied to offences in connection with
mechanical or other defects in motor vehicles. I think
that a person who drives a motor car which he kn&ws
has a mechanical defect or smooth tyres or bad brakes
commits an offence which involves a high degree of
moral culpability. There is little difference in moral
blame between the offences of driving when drunk and
of using a motor car which is known to be defective.
I do not agree that a small penalty is appropriate for
such a crime and I am convinced that the nominal
penalties (lOp for each defective tyre) which are im-
posed in some district court areas for offences of this
type have led to the view that they are trivial.
(2) The application of the "On the Spot Fines"
system to these offences will confirm the view that they
are not grave. I find it difficult to believe that anyone
can think that a fine of £2 is appropriate for a case
where a person drives a car with brakes or tyres which
he knows are defective.
(3) The number of serious accidents will continue to
increase unless we take effective steps to punish those
who drive defective vehicles. I hope that the next Act
amending the Road Traffic code will provide for
mandatory disqualification from driving of one year at
least when a person is convicted of driving a defective
vehicle.
23rd July, 1971
John Kenny
A "Maigret" accused
Dr. Nicola Scire, former Rome police superintendent,
appeared here today accused of corruption, disclosing
official secrets, and complicity in illegal gambling.
Scire, who was arrested in May, 1969, was alleged
to have received 350,000 lire (£240) a week from the
owner of a secret gambling club. Twenty-five people,
including three policemen, were also accused.
If found guilty on all charges, Scire, nicknamed the
Italian Maigret, could face between 11 and 42 years
in prison, a life's ban on holding office, and large fines.
He was alleged to have given tip-offs about planned
police raids. A high-level reshuffle in the Italian police
took place after his arrest.
Today's first hearing was devoted mainly to defence
arguments that recorded telephone conversations, which
form the basis of the prosecution's case, should not be
admitted as evidence.
In Melegnano, the Public Prosecutor, Signor Fran-
cesco Novello, bought a copy of the first Italian
language edition of Playboy and then ordered a nation-
wide confiscation of the magazine.—Reuter and UPI.
—Guardian
, 7th November 1972
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