Sir, - While driving in the south-east of the over the holiday weekend, I estimated that nine out of 10 of my fellow motorists were driving in a manner that approached responsibility and reason. Drivers obeyed speed limits and wore their seat-belts and a greater number of vehicles used dipped headlights during daylight hours. Normally I would be amazed to witness such collective complicity with the rules of the road.
There can be little doubt that this change resulted from the Garda decision to step up its policing for the holiday period. In my travels I passed through four Garda checkpoints and noticed three locations where gardai were monitoring drivers' speed. There also appeared to be a significant increase in the number of Garda cars patrolling the roads.
In days to come, however, the scale of this Garda operation will diminish to a level we have all come to know as "normality". In other words, high levels of careless and dangerous driving encouraged by an environment where policing is at a minimum. This is not a myth but a simple fact of life that has prevailed in Ireland since motoring began.
I find it almost beyond belief that the Government seems content to allow this country to trundle on into the 21st century with staggered, token efforts at policing our highways and byways. At a time when Exchequer returns are at an all-time high and the Government is set to invest huge sums of money in the development and upgrading of our national roads infrastructure, it is imperative that a State-wide traffic police division be set up.
The majority of our European neighbours put the necessary measures in place 30 or more years ago. - Yours, etc., Daragh Nolan,
Morehampton Terrace, Dublin 4.