Madam, – John Mullen (November 6th) criticised Sarah Carey (Opinion, November 4th) for her “self-righteous adherence to the speed limit” and failing to let “faster” motorists go by.
Let’s call a spade a spade. For “faster motorists” we should read motorists who gladly flout speed limits without a thought for the safety of others, let alone themselves.
Speeding drivers might “appreciate” slower, compliant drivers letting them go by, but your letter-writer’s sympathies are dreadfully misdirected. The question: do we want a culture of road-safety where aggressive driving is condemned, or do we not?
Adhering to speed limits is an obvious legal duty. But all vehicle users have a duty of care also to treat the limit as a guideline to the maximum speed. Adjusting driving to suit road conditions can often mean having to drive below the limit.
That may be a conceptual step too far for some drivers, but in that case they really should not be licensed to drive. It is astonishing that, after all of the advertising campaigns warning us to slow down, drivers who drive at appropriate speeds can be characterised as somehow being a greater danger.
Apart from being a driver, I am a frequent walker on country roads. I find drivers who slow down and show respect for safety to be in the minority. You often get a real sense of truculence from drivers who are obliged to suffer the dreadful inconvenience of actually coming to a halt when there is an oncoming car, on a narrow stretch of the road. I often wonder whether one must be a walker in order to understand how daunting it can be to have a ton or more of metal hurtling towards you on a country road, prepared to pass with inches to spare, without ever reducing speed.
Although their resources are already stretched too far to cope, there is no question but that enforcement of speed limits is the sole responsibility of the Garda Síochána.
However, to contend law-abiding motorists should pull in to appease aggressive and impatient fellow drivers demonstrates a wilful blindness to where the real problem lies. – Yours, etc,
PETER A O’SULLIVAN ,
Tipper Road,
Naas,
Co Kildare.