Roadside car sales ban stupid and malicious

Tuesday, November 17, 2009

PROSECUTING motorists for putting For Sale signs on their cars (November 11) is not just stupid — it’s malicious and petty-minded.

And the argument presented for this law is totally irrational.

If a sign in a car windscreen is going to distract drivers, why allow any sort of advertising at all? The roadside is littered with advertising and other distractions.

Why not ban all road signs, names on shop fronts, statues, flowerbeds and pretty power walkers?

It is deceitful to claim that the reason is that these cars are badly parked. If this is the case, drivers should be prosecuted for obstruction, whether or not they are advertising their cars for sale.

This is an unjustifiable restriction on human rights.

I would guess it is a covert action by car dealers and the road lobby, via politicians and bureaucrats who see private sales of cars as a threat to their profits, and have therefore concocted a road safety justification.

Those engaged in this mindless persecution would be better employed pursuing genuine road safety and environmental issues.

Michael Job
Rossnagrena
Glengarriff
Co Cork

This story appeared in the printed version of the Irish Examiner Tuesday, November 17, 2009