Sir, - I listened to the Minister for the Environment on radio recently rejecting suggestions by the National Safety Council that this Government had been dragging its heels on the strategy for road safety. Mr Dempsey presented his case in such a sanitised way that one would have thought the Government had achieved wonders. Not so. It would be interesting to hear Mr Dempsey's explanation of reality.
On a per capita basis we kill twice as many people on our roads as in the UK, and our statistics are the second worst in Europe. As a regular driver in about 10 EU countries in recent years, including the year 2000, I would say that the driving standards in this Republic are about the worst I have encountered. (I say that as a member of two advanced driving institutes.)
We have many thousands of drivers on our roads who never passed any driving test at all. Driving instructors, so called, are not subject to any legislation whatever. Surveillance is a joke compared with other EC countries due, no doubt, to the shameful under-funding. I have twice asked the Department of the Environment to refer me to anything it publishes which will help any driver to improve their driving standards beyond the standard test. All it has to offer is a simplistic booklet suitable only for beginners. That is not good enough.
It is time Mr Dempsey stopped playing politics and came to terms with reality. People who know their job in this area are not being fooled. - Yours, etc.,
Douglas McCowen, Templeville Road, Dublin 6W.