Sir, - Cllr Sean Dolphin (March 19th) is right. It was appalling to hear Mr Michael Tobin, chief executive of the National Roads Authority, saying that a crash barrier in the centre of the M50 would not increase the level of safety. He "explained" that such a barrier could cause vehicles to "bounce back to their own side" and that "this could be dangerous".
More than 40 years' research by the world's leading safety institutions has consistently proved that crash barriers increase the probability of survival. One does not need to be a scientist to recognise that it is preferable to collide with a vehicle going in the same direction rather than one coming head-on. - Yours, etc., Peter Coogan, The Lawns, Celbridge, Co Kildare.