Clare has the lowest conviction rate of any county in Ireland when it comes to the use of mobile phones while driving.
In the first half of this year, only 20% of cases before the courts relating to the offence ended with a conviction.
Figures released to Independent TD Tommy Broughan by the Courts Service, show that between January and May this year, 19.7% of cases before a judge in this county ended with a conviction.
The highest conviction rate in the country was in Longford, where almost 72% of cases that went before a judge were successfully prosecuted.
The Irish Independent reports that a quarter of motorists nationally, who were caught using their phone behind the wheel were let off because they were never served with summonses.
Only half of those who went before a judge were convicted – some cases were dismissed because prosecuting Gardaí didn’t show up, others were thrown out because the wrong person was prosecuted.
