Sir, - Your correspondent, Uinseann MacEoin, urges the introduction of a national speed limit of 50 mph and 25 mph in towns, to address the problem of our escalating rate of road deaths. While very clearly something needs to be gone, unfortunately this proposition is not the whole answer.
Road accidents result from a combination of two or more circumstances obtaining at the same time, e.g., high speed together with poor road conditions, or poor visibility, or dense traffic, or poor driving skills, or all of these. There is no doubt that excessive speed is all too often a factor, and to be safe, what drivers must do is drive at speeds appropriate to the conditions at the time, rather than just at an arbitrary lower limit. Many also need to learn much more about road craft generally in order to be much safer, at any speed, than they are at the moment.
The driving test needs to be far more stringent and should include a theory test, motorway type driving and night driving. For drivers who are partly or wholly to blame for an accident, there should be a mandatory retake of the driving test.
However, by far, the biggest problem about excessive speed is that our present limits are simply not properly enforced. I drive frequently from Dublin to the major cities and towns around the country, and I very often complete these journeys without ever seeing the Gardai in any shape or form.
There is no significant police presence, and many drivers feel they can drive how they want and at whatever speed they want. If there was proper policing, with a visible presence which enforced the speed limits already in existence, then road deaths would drop dramatically.
In the absence of such policing and establishing of proper driving standards commensurate with today's road conditions, any suggestion to change the speed limits - while maybe useful in congested urban areas particularly - is regrettably, at the moment, pie in the sky. Brendan Howlin, please take note. Yours, etc.,
Coolnaskeagh,
Delgany,
Co Wicklow.