CHRISTY BROWNE,
Madam, - John Waters is right in his well-argued column of November 4th. Instead of dealing head-on with road carnage, the new laws are only massaging it. As he says, a second offence within a 12-month period should incur a mandatory disqualification.
Better still, I suggest that with one stroke of the legal pen the bureaucracy which the points system entails could be dispensed with. How? With very big fines for speeding and dangerous driving - for example, €1,000 to €5,000 depending on each case.
Severe? Nothing compared with the trauma, distress and mental torture of all the families and loved ones of the 400-plus killed on our roads yearly and the multitudes seriously injured. I am convinced that this system alone - seriously and intensively implemented - would dramatically reduce the needless and terrible carnage on our roads and streets almost overnight .
It is clear that there are not enough gardaí to police this strategy effectively. But why not train wardens for this task, under police guidance? It would be self- financing. At present wardens deal with parking offences and guide children safely across the streets to schools. It would not be rocket science for them to use the apparatus to detect speeding vehicles. By the way, speed traps should not be confined to straight, wide, main roads.
If Ministers McDowell and Brennan are really serious about reducing the annual carnage on our roads they should study carefully and honestly what John Waters has to say.
All the advertising in the world against reckless driving has a minimal effect compared with the implementation of a speedy loss of licence and very hefty fines. - Yours, etc.,
CHRISTY BROWNE,
Station Road,
Lahinch,
Co Clare.
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Madam, - I presume that once the full range of penalty points is introduced it will include penalties for those who drive 20 m.p.h. slower than the limit, never look in their rear-view mirror, and do not know what a hard shoulder is?
Recently I drove from Brisbane to Sydney. Two things struck me: firstly that overtaking is uncommon because traffic flows at the prevailing speed limit; secondly that drivers are constantly reminded of how much it will cost them in fines depending on how much over the speed limit they are caught driving - the faster you drive, the more you pay.
This monetary approach is much more likely to make an impression on the speeders than reminding them at the county borders how many people have died in the past four years. - Yours, etc.,
GREG ASHE,
Kells,
Co Kerry.