Councillor calls for speeders to be jailed

ONE of the country’s longest serving public representatives is calling for the introduction of a mandatory seven-day prison sentence for motorists convicted of significantly exceeding the general 100 kilometres an hour speed limit.

The call came yesterday from Fianna Fáil councillor Kieran O’Ryan, who has been a member of Waterford County Council for more than half a century.

The veteran councillor spoke of his outrage at the continuation of the carnage on Irish roads in the first week of a new year when he told the monthly county council meeting that all the appeals over the years from local authorities to motorists to behave responsibly had largely fallen on deaf ears.

Mr O’Ryan said that excessive speed is the primary cause of most of the fatalities on the roads, and unless and until drivers cut back on their speeds, the carnage will continue.

“I have seen cars passing each other travelling at more than 100 miles an hour,” Mr. O’Ryan said, “and that is irresponsibility at its very worst. The time has come to take a heavy hand against these people.”

In calling for the introduction of a mandatory seven-day prison sentence for those convicted of significantly exceeding the general speed limit, he said he is not being “over reactionary’’ but, sadly, believes that it is the only way they can get the message across.

Later Mr O’Ryan told reporters that he is unapologetic in calling for the jailing of speeding motorists, insisting that the time has come to clampdown severely on these offenders who, he said, are “potential killers’’.

“Some may consider my call as draconian, but it may be the only solution to a problem that is escalating out of control,” he added.