PETER COOGAN,
Sir, - Well done, Seamus Brennan! The new Dublin traffic plan may or may not work - only time will tell. However, an established characteristic of the DTO is the arbitrary manner in which it imposes changes upon the tax-paying citizenry.
In other cities where changes are contemplated, low-cost temporary signs and barriers are erected and a review, involving consultation with those affected, takes place after an experimental period.
Not so in the Dublin of today. The absurd and expensive signs are but another example of the arrogance which has attended imposed changes since the establishment of the DTO. One wonders whether such authoritarianism would exist if Director of Traffic was an elected office. - Yours, etc.,
PETER COOGAN,
Temple Manor,
Celbridge,
Co Kildare.
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Sir, - I have always believed that politics was a profession favoured by the obsessive and single-minded, but this is pushing things an exit too far.
I suggest Seamus Brennan and his Government playmates go back to nursery school and play with the vroom-vrooms whilst the rest of us enjoy a slightly more efficient traffic system in the city. - Yours, etc.,
MARK O'TOOLE,
Emmet Street,
Harold's Cross,
Dublin 6.
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Sir, - One of the loveliest thing about walking down Dublin's O'Connell Street this week was the sound of human voices, for once not drowned out by cars.
Well done, Dublin City Council, for injecting some soul back into our city. - Yours, etc.,
ORLA BOURKE,
Munster Street,
Phibsborough,
Dublin 7.
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Sir, - The new traffic signs are to be applauded. Much thought and effort has obviously been invested in the scheme and it takes only a few minutes' study of the explanatory leaflet provided by Dublin City Council to realise that it boils down to a few simple rules: 1, purple for the outer ring, orange for the inner; 2, coloured background when you're on a route, white background when you're approaching one; 3, each junction is numbered. Not much more to it, really.
Anyone capable of driving a car can surely comprehend these few simple rules and for a motorist, or even a Minister on his way from the airport, to dismiss them without giving them a chance says more about the driver then about the signs.
It is clear the real reason for the annoyance of the Minister and his officials is that the council's action in tackling Dublin's traffic problem has shown up years of inaction by almost everyone else concerned.
We moaned about the clampers and they proved a success, as did the QBCs.
Give the new signs a chance and they will work too. - Yours, etc.,
RORY McGEE,
Morehampton Terrace,
Donnybrook,
Dublin 4.
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Sir, - Could you confirm that the new road signs will be recycled to point to the Millennium Clock? - Yours, etc.,
LAURENCE PAVEAU,
Lucan,
Co Dublin.