Madam, - Feargal Quinn (Opinion, September 25th) and Fintan O'Toole (Features, September 27th) have suggested that drivers initially slowed down following the introduction of penalty points but have since reverted to their previous speedy habits due to the lack of enforcement of speed limits.
They offer no proof of this thesis, however, other than the statistics showing an increase in deaths on the roads. This rather begs the question (in the true sense of that much-abused phrase) in that the conclusion assumes that the increase in fatalities is purely the result of an increase in speeding.
I seem to remember a report in The Irish Times some months ago which suggested that road deaths had increased during a period when average road speed had declined. If my memory is not playing tricks on me, this evidence would make a nonsense of the Quinn/O'Toole thesis. Could we please have some relevant empirical data before any more conclusions are drawn? - Yours, etc.,
PAUL KENNAN,
Pilot View,
Dalkey,
Co Dublin.