Penalty points system

Madam, - It was with a sense of total bewilderment that I learned of the findings of a review on the penalty points initiative…

Madam, - It was with a sense of total bewilderment that I learned of the findings of a review on the penalty points initiative (The Irish Times, March 11th) It seems like a excerpt from a comic opera: insufficient funding to enforce the scheme properly, unacceptable backlogs of tapes awaiting analysis, clerical officers assigned to draw lines with rulers to prepare registers, the Garda Síochána crest appearing upside down on official documentation, the lack of computer facilities to coordinate and properly organise the scheme.

Politicians have waxed eloquent for more years than I care to remember about the horrendous problems on our roads and the unacceptable death toll. Now, finally, when we have proved to ourselves that there is something which can be done - something which the figures show is already making a difference - we succeed in turning the solution into nothing short of a three-ring circus within a matter of weeks. - Yours, etc.,

Dr BERNADETTE BRADY, Hillside Park, Rathfarnham, Dublin 16.