Sir, – Eoin Burke-Kennedy’s article (“We’re not experiencing a 1970s -style oil price shock just yet, but it’s spiralling,” Business, April 3rd) is apt.
They’re saying the current crisis will be worse than the first oil shock in 1973. I was in the US on my J-1 visa from June to December 1973 and saw the impact firsthand.
Fuel prices quadrupled, lots of “no gas” signs popped up on petrol pumps, there were overnight queues at empty gas stations while drivers waited for the next delivery, a 55mph speed limit was enforced on interstate highways, there were go-slow demonstrations by truckers and, most extraordinarily, all the neon signs in Las Vegas had been switched off to save electricity when I drove through there in November 1973.
We haven’t seen anything like that this time, yet. I’ve booked a 12-day cruise from New York to the Caribbean for November but I wonder if I’ll be able to get to JFK Airport, or if the ship will have fuel. – Yours, etc,
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BRENDAN FRAWLEY,
Blackrock,
Co Dublin.
