Sir, – Donncha Foley’s suggestion that drivers accruing multiple penalty points should face retesting has much merit (Letters, September 13th). But there are certain groups on our roads who have never actually sat a driving test in the first place. In 1979 an amnesty was declared to clear a backlog in the system, (a backlog created in no small way by a protracted postal strike) and driving licences were issued “sans test” to those on a second “provisional” licence. Are there “boy racers” over 60 years of age? Unlikely. Then there are N drivers who for obvious reasons won’t have sat a test. And a third cohort, our EU friends who have exchanged driving licences from their own country for an Irish licence. The retesting argument, however, is a step up from the knee-jerk reaction so far put forward by those with responsibility in the road safety area. – Yours, etc,
PETER DECLAN O’HALLORAN,
Belturbet,
Co Cavan.