Sir, – I read with the utmost amusement Frank McDonald’s distress at certain sections of road being improved in South Kerry (September 12th). The audacity of Kerry County Council to improve downright dangerous sections along the Ring of Kerry! The fiends! “Worst of all”, Mr McDonald writes, “long stretches of stone parapet walls have been replaced with pre-cast concrete sections in highly scenic areas”.
Inserting safety barriers on bends with sickeningly steep drops? What were they thinking! Mr McDonald’s statement that these improved roads are now extra dangerous because drivers can now accelerate more is nonsensical, and akin to stating that motorways (statistically the safest form of road network) are the most dangerous simply because you can go the fastest on them.
I am ever so relieved Mr McDonald is not in charge of Irish road safety, where aesthetic values seem to supersede the value of a motorist’s life. Does Mr McDonald also feel that crash barriers on the N7 are “too industrial”? I suggest Mr McDonald should navigate the Ring of Kerry on a foggy night in the deepest darkest depths of winter and see how he feels then. – Yours, etc,