Sir, - This year's toll of road deaths seems set to exceed that of 1997. How, then, are we to interpret a recent Garda statement that increased police surveillance of our roads ran the risk of alienating motorists? Surely any motorist engaged in dangerous driving deserves the alienation involved. Surely other road users deserve more consideration.Although road accidents account for more deaths than any other area within the remit of the Garda, only 7 per cent of Garda time is allotted to road safety, according to the recent survey of the force's work habits.Sadly also, despite 470 deaths last year, the practice of flashing headlights to warn other motorists to expect that rare phenomenon, a Garda checkpoint, is still current.Maybe as an antidote to the "laddish" pastime of speeding (indulged in by women too) those applying for licences and drivers convicted of dangerous driving should be obliged to attend lectures on road safety including videos on the outcome of crashes at various speeds.Veronica Guerin had to die before the drugs issue was properly addressed. What does the annual figures for road deaths have to be before we get an adequate response, before a Garda presence on our roads is the rule, not the exception? - Yours, etc., Cecilia McGovern,
Wellington Road,Ballsbridge,Dublin 4.