Madam, - Kevin O'Donohoe of the Garda Press Office gave a spirited but flawed account of the level of enforcement on our roads (January 28th). He cited the number of vehicles stopped and tickets issued for various offences. Most drivers will accept his statistics and acknowledge that drivers are caught committing various offences. But the fact remains that most drivers believe they will never be caught and those who are caught are extremely unlucky.
Recently I asked the Garda Press Office if it was an offence to drive with fog lights on when there was no fog. I was told that it was. I asked how many people had been ticketed or convicted for this offence. That information, I was told, was not available.
I suggest that the number of people caught for this offence is close to zero. But as anyone who drives, especially on country roads, will know, at least a third of all drivers use their fog lights. This affects the sight of oncoming drivers while providing no extra vision in non-fog conditions. If gardaí are not enforcing a simple, yet important rule such as this, how much confidence can we have in their policing of other, more serious rules of the road? - Yours, etc.,
TREVOR TROY, Athboy, Co Meath.