Road-safety madness

NOW that the new drink-anddrive legislation has passed into law, all has gone quiet in relation to road safety. It’s always a worry when one complex, multi-faceted problem has been reduced to just one simplistic issue.

Living in rural Ireland, one is daily forced to confront the scary issue of speed. In my own part of the country we are blessed with many scenic routes which invariably involve winding, dangerous roads.

A parent driving the children home from school at midday is far more likely to meet an oncoming driver at speed on a dangerous bend than he or she is likely to meet a drunken driver, in my humble opinion.

I base my opinion on a careful study of speeding cases before the local court and as reported in our local paper over the course of a year. Speeds of up to 147kph were recorded. In one case, an off-duty garda clocked an individual driving at 147kph overtaking a tractor on a continuous white line. He pleaded he was sightseeing.

In another case a retired solicitor overtaking at speed on a continuous white line blamed his behaviour on jet lag – oncoming vehicles had to take evasive action. Another erratic driver was found to be ill and unfit to drive at all. In no case was drink a factor.

But even worse follows from the point of view of the innocent road user. When these cases reached court the individuals were charged with dangerous driving. There then follows a palaver between solicitor and judge: the individual needs his licence for work; because he has no access to public transport; because his mother depends on him and so on and on. Eventually it’s settled at careless driving and a fine.

I really feel for the guards who attempt to operate in a system in the stranglehold of the judicial system. The only hope of reform is for the general public to rouse itself from its lethargy take heed of the campaign for reform being waged by the Irish Daily Mail and row in behind it.

JOAN GRENNAN, Sligo.