You've probably met at least one of these characters. They pass you out on a risky bend. Scream off up the road weaving from lane to lane. Always looking for those few seconds' advantage. Cutting in front of people. And, of course, a few minutes later you pull up at some traffic lights and there they are a few cars in front of you. They've happily put themselves and other road-users in danger for a few feet.
They used to use the phrase "road hog" to describe such people. That was unfair, on hogs. At least hogs don't take dumb chances to gain such an insignificant advantage.
I'm not going to maintain that I've never exceeded the speed limit. When I was involved in politics I had to do the Galway-Dublin, Dublin-Galway runs once and sometimes twice a week. And some mornings, with the road empty I'd probably push the 60 limit that applied then to 70 and more.
Oddly it was a trip someone else took that persuaded me to change my ways. About a week after Operation Lifesaver was introduced a friend of mine drove from Galway to Dublin. He was in a rush to meet a business deadline. By the time he reached Dublin he had paid a total of £200 in fines. Four stops, four £50 fines. As soon as he arrived at his destination he got on the phone to everyone he knew would be making the same journey that day and warned us.
Since then I've become more aware of the risk-takers. I still drive around the country a lot. Two weeks ago, for example, I was driving along sticking just below the speed limit. And because I was going so "slowly" I got passed by a rake of cars. Small cars almost exclusively. Fiestas, Golfs, Clios and Peugeot 205s; makes you wonder if they're trying to prove something.
At one stage a little convoy developed. Another Volvo driver and myself and two big Mercs. All carefully watching our speed. And we got passed out. By an Escort. I'm sure the others hoped as I did that this idiot ran into a speed trap before he ran into someone else.
Operation Lifesaver is aptly named. It does save lives. This isn't a generalisation based on carefully selected statistics. Operation Lifesaver saved my life.
Not so long ago I was involved in a serious car accident. If I'd still been driving the way I used to I couldn't have survived. It's that simple. Because I was travelling within the speed limit (15 or 20 miles an hour slower than I used to) the impact was that little bit less severe. It gave the safety systems built into my Volvo a chance to work. And, I'm afraid, it reinforced my conviction that speeding just isn't worth it.
The problem, though, is that it takes events like that to change the way people behave. At this stage very few motorists are not aware of the dangers of speeding. If you were to sit them down and talk to them about how they should change their driving style, you would find few objecting to what you were saying. They'd nod and claim that they would try to keep their speed under control.
And the next time they were late for a meeting their right foot would miraculously become enormously heavy. The speed limit would become an irrelevancy. And the "I won't get caught this time" attitude would take over.
And they're right. They probably won't get caught. The Garda can't patrol everywhere. Main roads they can cover pretty well. But the secondary roads can only be spot-checked. A little clever route-planning and a slice of luck and the speeding drivers will get away with it.
Recently I was driving in the UK and noticed the police cameras in operation along the motorways. They flashed each time a vehicle travelling above the speed limit drove past. The registration number and the speed were noted and the driver would later receive a summons in the post.
No police officers were tied up operating the system, and the equipment was not that expensive. But the key element of this system was the points system that went with it. Collect enough and you got banned from driving. No argument, no get-out clause.
That's all very well in the UK, but it would be too expensive to put something like that in place here. Except it wouldn't. Many towns already have traffic monitoring cameras in place. Upgrading them to catch motoring offenders is not that expensive a procedure. And we don't have that many miles of motorway. Covering them with fixed camera equipment would involve a reasonable once-off outlay.
That would help solve the problems on the main roads. Dealing with speeding on secondary roads and in built-up areas would require a variation on the points scheme. Going a few miles an hour over the speed limit on a motorway is dangerous, but at least motorways are designed for quick transit. The roads through suburbs are not. Exceeding 30 miles an hour in a built-up area is more dangerous than doing 70-plus on a primary route.
It's more dangerous because the people being put at risk are pedestrians. They don't have airbags and crumple zones. And when those pedestrians are children they simply don't know the risks they are facing. Their suburban roads are also very often their playgrounds. And when children get focused on a good game everything else takes second place.
I believe drivers caught speeding in these areas should receive at least a serious fine and a final warning. If they get caught again their licences should be forfeit. I fully realise that the measures I'm proposing are severe. But we are not talking about parking offences here. We're talking about stopping people from risking their own and other people's lives. We're talking about breaking habits that kill.
Next Friday all of us on this island will have a chance to vote for peace and for closer co-operation between us. What better or more immediate way to show this co-operation in action than for the authorities down here to put in place speed and traffic control measures which have been the norm in Northern Ireland for many years now. It would be a tangible harmonisation of our laws.
The only other solution available to us is one that I don't believe could possibly work in Ireland. We could try leaving for our various appointments on time. It's a nice idea, but I don't see it happening.