Sir, - The BBC programme Top Gear has been strongly criticised for its glamorisation of speed, acceleration figures and many other features of the modern motor car, and for making it all look so simple - which it is not. Two major car manufacturers have withdrawn some of their adverts due to the intervention of the advertising standards agency in the UK on the grounds that the copy complained of promoted danger and not safety.
In The Irish Times (March 10th) a large advertisement appeared for a well-known make of car, which says: "Its responsive nature means all the power you need for everyday driving and safe overtaking is always available". Those words are irresponsible and dangerous because overtaking is the most complex manoeuvre in the book, demanding about 20 individual observations and assessments, all to be correlated accurately before any attempt to overtake is made. That is why a large proportion of deaths on the roads is due to careless overtaking.
I suggest it is time that the Advertising Standards Authority for Ireland paid attention to the way in which advertising copy for motor cars is presented to the consumer. Every new car on the road should contain a warning in the same way that cigarette manufacturers have to print a health warning on the packet. I suggest an engraved strip of metal fixed permanently on the dashboard of every motor car which says: This car is potentially a killing machine and must be used with care and skill. - Yours, etc.,
Douglas McCowen, Templeville Road, Dublin 6W.