Most common motoring offences in Northern Ireland: the latest PSNI figures
Insurance offences remain the largest category in the latest PSNI data, while careless driving, speeding and vehicle-condition offences also account for thousands of detections. Here is what the newest Northern Ireland figures actually show.
Updated 21 September 2026. If you want to know what Northern Ireland drivers are most often detected for, the answer is not speeding. The latest Police Service of Northern Ireland figures show that insurance offences remain the largest motoring-offence group.
In the 12 months from 1 June 2025 to 31 May 2026, PSNI recorded 38,295 motoring-offence detections. That was 5% higher than the 36,561 detections recorded in the previous 12-month period. Insurance offences accounted for 6,618 detections, followed by careless driving with 4,657 and speeding with 4,607. Together those three groups made up 41% of the total.
That is the newest rolling-year summary PSNI has published in an easily comparable form. PSNI has since published a monthly motoring-offences update to the end of June 2026, but the 1 June 2025 to 31 May 2026 period remains the latest official rolling-year breakdown for which PSNI has also published the headline category figures in full.
The most common motoring offences in Northern Ireland
The latest 12-month PSNI headline figures put the top three offence groups in this order:
| Offence group | Detections | What it covers |
|---|---|---|
| Insurance offences | 6,618 | Offences connected with using, causing or permitting the use of a motor vehicle without the required insurance. |
| Careless driving | 4,657 | Driving without due care and attention or without reasonable consideration for other road users. |
| Speeding offences | 4,607 | PSNI-detected speeding offences. These figures do not represent every speed detection made by the separate Northern Ireland Road Safety Partnership. |
There is an important warning attached to that table. PSNI's motoring-offence series and Northern Ireland Road Safety Partnership camera statistics are separate statistical products. The PSNI annual report specifically notes that its motoring-offence figures exclude speed detections made by the Road Safety Partnership. So the table should not be read as proving that speeding is less common on the road than every other offence; it shows the number of offences in this particular PSNI statistical series.
What changed most?
The biggest movement in the latest rolling 12 months was in the construction and use group. PSNI said detections rose by 46% to 4,512, an increase of 1,420. Construction-and-use offences can cover a wide range of vehicle and roadworthiness matters rather than one single behaviour, which is why the category should not be reduced to a simple label such as “defective tyres”.
PSNI reported that nine of the 19 offence groups increased over the year. The overall total rose by 5%, so the increase was not confined to one small category.
What did the final 2025 figures show?
For a complete calendar-year picture, the final PSNI 2025 annual report recorded 37,120 motoring-offence detections, up 283 — about 1% — from 36,837 in 2024. It was the first annual increase since 2018.
The 2025 annual report is useful because it publishes all 19 offence groups. The largest were:
| 2025 offence group | Detections |
|---|---|
| Insurance | 6,453 |
| Careless driving | 4,755 |
| Speeding | 4,513 |
| Construction and use | 3,789 |
| Drink/drug driving | 2,794 |
| Driving-licence offences | 2,722 |
| Fail to stop/remain/report | 2,099 |
| Learner/restricted-driver offences | 1,648 |
| Dangerous driving | 1,489 |
| Mobile-phone offences | 1,112 |
| Driving while disqualified | 1,024 |
| Miscellaneous motoring offences | 982 |
| Vehicle taking/tampering | 772 |
| Vehicle test certificate | 755 |
| Parking offences | 671 |
| Seat-belt offences | 563 |
| Non-driver offences | 451 |
| Breach of traffic signs | 297 |
| Fraudulent use of a vehicle | 231 |
Those categories add context that the headline top three cannot. Northern Ireland's motoring-enforcement picture is spread across insurance, driver behaviour, vehicle condition, licensing, drink or drug driving, mobile-phone use and other offences.
How are motoring offences dealt with?
In the latest 12-month period, PSNI said 97% of detections were dealt with by fixed penalty notice or referral for prosecution. The remaining 3%, or 1,234 cases, resulted in completion of a speed-awareness or safer-driver course.
The 2025 annual report gives another useful snapshot of disposal types: 23,268 offences were referred for prosecution, 7,347 resulted in endorsable fixed penalties, 5,412 in non-endorsable fixed penalties, 608 in speed-awareness courses and 485 in safer-driver courses. These are offence outcomes, not a count of unique individual drivers.
Why “detections” does not mean “drivers”
This distinction matters. PSNI's figures count offences detected, not unique motorists. One person can be detected for more than one offence in the same incident. For example, a vehicle stop could potentially produce separate insurance, licence and vehicle-condition offences. It would therefore be wrong to say 38,295 different Northern Ireland drivers were caught.
The statistics also tell us what police detected, not the total amount of offending that occurred. Enforcement intensity, police activity, camera deployment, reporting practice and changes in driving behaviour can all affect detection numbers.
Is speeding really only the third most common offence?
It is the third-largest group inside the PSNI motoring-offence dataset for the latest published rolling year, behind insurance and careless driving. But there is a major qualification: Northern Ireland Road Safety Partnership camera detections are published separately.
The Road Safety Partnership recorded 87,443 speeding detections in 2025, its highest calendar-year total since the scheme began. That is why it would be misleading to place the 4,607 PSNI speeding figure beside insurance offences and conclude that only around 4,600 speeding incidents were detected across Northern Ireland as a whole.
How fast was the highest PSNI speed?
PSNI's performance summary says the highest speed detected by officers in the 12 months to 31 May 2026 was 143mph on the M2 Rathbeg southbound in Antrim. A single extreme detection is not representative of ordinary traffic speeds, but it illustrates why the police statistics separate general offence totals from specific enforcement examples.
What the trend tells Northern Ireland motorists
The strongest conclusion is not that one offence has suddenly become an epidemic. It is that the latest figures show a broad increase in detected motoring offences, with insurance continuing to be the biggest PSNI offence group and vehicle construction/use detections rising particularly sharply.
Drivers should also avoid reading annual movements as a direct measure of how safe or unsafe Northern Ireland's roads became. Motoring-offence detections and road-collision casualties answer different questions. A rise in enforcement detections can happen at the same time as some casualty measures fall, and vice versa.
Frequently asked questions
What is the most common motoring offence detected by PSNI in Northern Ireland?
Insurance offences are the largest group in the latest published rolling-year headline figures, with 6,618 detections between 1 June 2025 and 31 May 2026.
How many motoring offences were detected in Northern Ireland?
PSNI recorded 38,295 detections in the 12 months to 31 May 2026. For the final calendar year 2025, the total was 37,120.
Are these numbers the same as convictions?
No. They are detections. Cases can be dealt with through fixed penalties, prosecution referrals or approved driver courses, depending on the offence and circumstances.
Do the PSNI figures include all speed-camera detections?
No. The PSNI motoring-offence series excludes detections made by the Northern Ireland Road Safety Partnership, which publishes its own statistics.
Sources and methodology
This article uses PSNI's official Motoring Offence Statistics, the PSNI 2025 Annual Report, PSNI's published performance summary for the 12 months to 31 May 2026, and the Northern Ireland Road Safety Partnership 2025 annual statistics. Figures were checked on 21 September 2026. Because rolling 12-month and calendar-year periods are different, they are shown separately rather than combined.
