Sir, - This letter could never be written by a 22-year-old like John Barker (March 7th), bemoaning the cost of motor insurance cover for drivers of his age group.
Like Mr Barker I too have no control over my age and now find myself careering towards the big five-o. But, I once was his age and I can assure him that 25 years ago first-time insurance with a newly-acquired full licence did not come cheaply.
While I have no connection with, nor am I an apologist for the insurance industry, it is evident that insurance is about risk - both for the insured and the insurer. To protect and compensate others against injury and its consequences, third-party insurance is rightly compulsory.
What I see on our roads every day (as a driver and cyclist) from drivers of Mr Barkers age is nothing short of criminal: speeding, tailgating, reckless overtaking, aggression at roundabouts and junctions, and of course, the billion-watt sound system cocooning them from the boring irrelevancies of the world outside the motor.
Maybe the insurance companies are the only ones who are calling this properly: the tendency in the media and elsewhere - and a recent Editorial in your own paper bears this out - is to blame the Government. Fair enough, matters in relation to learner drivers, penalty points and indeed sub-standard roads need improvement, but the blame for our road carnage needs to be laid where it belongs - with the criminally dangerous young male drivers. - Yours, etc.,
Larry Dunne, The Green, Woodbrook Glen, Bray, Co Wicklow.