Sir, - Recent articles in this newspaper, including your Editorial of September 3rd, have given rise to a large volume of calls to the AA. Despite the clarity with which The Irish Times reported my comments (August 27th), a number of people came away with the impression that the AA was opposed to a law that banned the use of telephones while driving.
I would like to make the following point unambiguously: the practice of using mobile phones while driving is deplorable. It is a modern scourge and a hazard on the roads and it deserves a legal sanction. It is not true to say that we oppose a law against using mobile phones while driving; it is our position that such a law exists already but that it is not enforced.
Our central point in the debate is that there is an overwhelming need for far greater enforcement of the law in Ireland. In order to achieve that we believe that there is a need for, inter alia, a dedicated road traffic corps of the Garda. The reckless cell-phone user would be prosecuted under current law if there was a traffic Garda there to catch him. In the absence of enforcement, legislation is no more than ink on paper.
The laws governing driving and road use in Ireland are very closely similar to those in the UK. Britain has dedicated traffic police and also the safest roads in Europe.
I have had a number of meetings and discussions with the Garda on this issue recently. They tell me they feel their hand would be strengthened by the existence of legislation that specifically mentioned telephones and they might then be able to prosecute successfully more often. The AA is happy to support the Garda in this; by all means let us write a prohibition on telephone use into the statute books.
In the meantime Ministers Noel Dempsey and Bobby Molloy deserve considerable credit for moving the mobile phone problem and broader road safety issues up the public agenda. - Yours, etc.,
Conor Faughnan, Public Affairs Manager, AA Ireland, Dublin 2.