MICHAEL BOURKE,
Madam, - "Zero tolerance" is a term you don't hear much these days. The thinking behind the term is well understood - .i.e. that minor offences or misdemeanours should not be ignored by a police force, as to do so creates an environment in which more serious crime will increase.
A former Minister for Justice, John O'Donoghue, latched on to "zero tolerance", making it his big idea in the period leading up to the 1997 general election. Once in office, however, his actions didn't match his earlier rhetoric and many of us could point to examples of minor offences to which a blind eye continued to be turned.
My own particular favourite becomes most noticeable every year around now, and continues to be so for about six months or so. The higher rainfall during this period, combined with the dirt on many of our roads, leads to a stiuation whereby the back registration plates of many vehicles become practically illegible.
This seems to be more prevalent in rural areas but is common enough in towns, as a brief observation will confirm.
Now as far as I know, to drive a vehicle with an illegible or obscured registration plate is an offence, though not in itself a major one. However, one effect of ignoring this particular minor offence is that it allows a more serious offence also to go unpunished.
It is reasonable to conclude that a proportion of the vehicles "caught" by speed cameras will have illegible or obscured registration plates. Those drivers therefore can't be identified and so will escape any penalty; and, more seriously, they may continue to engage in speeding.
At this time of year when I get stopped for a routine Garda check, I enquire why they don't check the back registration plates for legibility. The usual reply is that they have not been instructed to do that. Too bad, because here is an example where "zero tolerance" should most certainly be applied. - Yours, etc., MICHAEL BOURKE, Ceannt Fort, Dublin 8.