Sir, – While responding to the recent spike in deaths on our roads, the Minister for Justices states that enforcement of the rules of the road is “strong” (“Road policing is ‘strong’, says Helen McEntee, as figures show drop in Garda checkpoints”, News, October 16th).
While anecdotes and personal observations should always be treated with a pinch of salt, I don’t think anybody who observes day-to-day behaviour on our roads would stand over the Minister’s statement. I can walk out of my house in Galway and within minutes spot multiple illegally parked cars, including close to a pedestrian crossing where I was recently nearly run over by a motorist breaking the red light. On my way to work I travel through one of Galway’s recently designated 30km/h speed zones, but from my own speed it’s instantly apparent that virtually none of the drivers are obeying this new speed limit. Passing through some of Galway’s relatively new signalised junctions it again only takes a few seconds to observe multiple drivers breaking red lights at speed, and often so late that opposing lights and “green men” are active.
Of course, the people breaking these laws don’t see themselves as doing anything wrong – they’re just doing what everyone else is doing, or they’ll “only be a minute”, or they’re in a rush and so accelerating through that red light probably won’t do any harm, and so on.
But cumulatively each incident adds to a less safe environment, particularly for those on foot or bike, and it also emboldens the small percentage of drivers who are dangerously incompetent. Enforcement can’t solve everything, and there is another conversation to be had about the inappropriate speed-inducing road designs that are still being built in our towns and cities. But the sheer consistency and frequency with which laws that are designed to protect road users are broken indicates that the current system is not serving as enough of a deterrent. – Yours, etc,
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DAVE MATHIESON,
Salthill,
Galway.