Sir, - Both Nicole Arnould (October 26th), and Nuala O'Faolain (The Magazine, October 27th), are eloquent in expressing their misgivings over the so-called traffic-calming measures proliferating around the country and I heartily agree with them - my particular bugbears being the roundabout in Ashford, Co Wicklow, and the ramps on Clyde Road in Ballsbridge.
Ms O'Faolain makes the point that these "measures", instituted variously by the National Roads Authority, the Dublin Transportation Authorty and the local authorities, do not appear in other countries to the same extent, but then fails to come up with the reasons for this, which are that they provide jobs and are believed to enhance safety (the invocation of either of which is the greatest single cause of the cessation of rational discussion in this country). Furthermore, these "measures" are the products of bureaucracies whose prime function is not to solve the problem for which they were created, but to perpetuate their own existence. - Yours, etc.,
Robert Towers, Monkstown, Co Dublin.