Sir, - All road deaths are tragic and unacceptable, as is drunkdriving and dangerously fast driving. However there are aspects of your Editorial on road deaths (September 10th) which in my opinion are misleading, and where emotion seems to have got the better of reason.
First, it makes little sense to refer to the absolute number of road deaths. The only meaningful statistic, when one is trying to access the risk of driving on our roads, or compare Ireland with other countries, is the death or accident rate per 10,000 vehicles or per 1,000 kms travelled. Given the very rapid growth in vehicle ownership and in traffic levels, an increase of less than 20 per cent in the absolute number of deaths between 1994 and 1997 probably indicates a reduction in the death rate.
Second, you seem to believe the official line that speeding is the main factor in road accidents. I am not aware of any really rigorous test of this hypothesis. Official speed limits are often quite arbitrary and seem to bear little relation to what is safe. They sometimes err on the side of generosity and sometimes are absurdly restrictive. But the main problem with the simplistic condemnation of speeding is that it ignores the very complex interaction between speed, driver skill, vehicle maintenance, visibility, traffic density, and a whole host of other variables.
Instead of always appearing to condemn motorists, why not focus attention on the authorities who are responsible for bad road design, poor road signs, poor road maintenance, roads so badly drained that they are downright dangerous in wet conditions ... the full list is a long one.
Finally, an example: for several years we have had road signs with distances in kilometres (marked Km) and speed limits in miles per hour (without any indication of kph or mph - how do the unfortunate tourists work this one out?). This is indicative of the sloppy attitude of the Department of the Environment and of local authorities; no wonder Irish motorists are equally sloppy in their observance of the rules. - Yours, etc., John Sheehan,
Pinewood Park,
Dublin 14.