CHARLES M. QUINN,
Sir, - Just some few days ago, everyone was horrified to learn of the deaths of two members of the Garda Siocanna when their car was involved in a collision with another vehicle being driven in excess of 100 mph. The outrage expressed by our politicians matched the obscenity of that tragedy. That strikes me as a significant contrast to their reactions to another incident, reported last year, concerning a Mercedes car being driven in excess of 100 mph along minor roads in Co Kerry.
I have a similar difficulty with the photograph you displayed so prominently on the front page of your Saturday edition, of three gentlemen being driven in another large Mercedes car, blissfully ignoring the law requiring the wearing of seatbelts. Yet, a very recent report on road safety highlighted the non-compliance with the requirement to wear seatbelts as a major factor in road accident deaths in this country.
Are the Taoiseach and the Minister for Justice above the law simply because they are using vehicles belonging to the Garda vehicle pool? Do they not, at least, have a duty to show good example?
After all, the Princess Diana accident demonstrated very clearly and finally that large Mercedes cars, being driven too quickly, can lead to the death of unrestrained occupants, just as readily as any other motor vehicle. - Yours etc.,
CHARLES M. QUINN,
Donnybrook,
Dublin 4.