Motorists could face new driving laws to combat a growing "epidemic" of road offences across Northern Ireland, which has now reached its highest level.

It comes after police officials across Northern Ireland warned of the rise in speeding cases throughout the nation, with roughly 100,000 offences recorded last year.

Chief Superintendent Sam Donaldson has now warned that unless there is a change in the numbers this year, legal action could be taken.

The police official has predicted that this year, speeding numbers will likely exceed the 100,000 mark, making it the highest amount on record.

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Donaldson told the News Letter: "In the year 2024, we made 84,004 detections by the road safety vans. That was the highest number of detections since the road safety vans were launched in Northern Ireland. That concerns me.

"I have been keeping an eye on the month-by-month detections, and I am confident that we are making more detections this year than we were last year."

He explained that the force would like to see more technology used to catch offenders, such as Automatic Number Plate Recognition (ANPR) cameras, as well as more targeted enforcement efforts.

"Unless we can change the culture, encourage people to slow down and stop taking the risks that they are taking, we are not going to be able to drive down the number of people that are dying on our roads," he warned.

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The police force recorded 100,000 cases of speeding last year

In Northern Ireland, drivers can be fined £60, a much cheaper amount than in the rest of the UK, where the penalty is £100 or £2,500 for more serious cases.

He added: "But there is something wrong about going over to Scotland and getting fined much more, or driving over to Monaghan and getting fined much more; the consequences have to be the same.

"We are also looking at the possibility of graduated consequences. Maybe it will stay at £60 and three penalty points for the first one, but if you get caught a second time, maybe it needs to go up to £120 and six points. Something needs to change there."

Donaldson explained that he has been in discussions with the Department for Infrastructure "around an increase in the penalty".

However, he noted that it's "not to make more money" but simply because "we are out of kilter with other parts of the islands on which we live".

The need to cut down on speeding follows reports by the Department for Infrastructure earlier this year, which revealed that between 2019 and 2023, 297 people were killed or seriously injured in collisions caused by speeding.

He stated: "I wouldn’t want people to be panicking and to be thinking we are going to fine people more, but I think we are out of kilter, there is something wrong there. I am not sure the consequences are high enough in the circumstances.

"No decision has been made at this moment in time. I have brought it to our strategic road safety forum, and colleagues in the Department for Infrastructure are having a look at it."

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Drivers in Northern Ireland currently pay £60 for speeding offences compared to £100 in England

On top of cracking down on speeding, Donaldson said he also had concerns around other fatal four behaviours, which have been impacting road safety.

This includes mobile phone use in vehicles, not wearing a seatbelt and driving while under the influence of drugs or alcohol. "We need a cultural shift just like the drink driving and just like the wearing of seatbelts."

"That is why I make the point that we can deploy the vans on any road and we will still detect people speeding, that is because it is an epidemic," he said.

He explained that the police would like to put safety camera vans on the majority of rural roads, "but it is extremely difficult to do that because I don't want to cause a collision by having a van parked around the corner".