Sir, - I find it difficult to believe that the chief executive of the Road Safety Council, Mr Pat Costello (October 14th) sees so little connection between road safety and the state of our roads that he regards protests on the subject by motorists as excuses for their own bad habits. In an attempt to broaden what appears to be a blinkered view of the reasons for road accidents, I would like to put forward the following questions for consideration:
If we had a road built to British motorway standards on the N11 north of Arklow, would the 20 people killed in the past 18 months on that stretch be alive today?
If we had a motorway on the N7, the main road to Limerick, would the two young men who died on their way back from holidays be alive today?
If we had a motorway on the N8, the main road to Cork, would the woman killed outside Mitchelstown in a head-on crash be alive today?
Evidence from abroad shows that if a two-lane road is improved to motorway standard, accidents will be reduced by 80 per cent and some types of accidents by 100 per cent.
End of debate! - Yours, etc., Jude T Lindsay,
Rathdown Park,
Greystones,
Co Wicklow.