It’s the Government’s job to protect people from dangerous behaviour

BLAMING individual motorists for the carnage that takes place on our roads is yet another example of the Government trying to evade its responsibility.

It is the Government’s job to protect the public from irresponsible and criminally dangerous behaviour, be it on the roads or anywhere else.

However, road transport is an inherently dangerous system. If it didn’t already exist, anyone who proposed such a thing would be considered mad; and in any case, it would be condemned under current health and safety legislation. Looked at objectively, the only thing that should surprise anyone is that far more people are not killed, crippled and injured, and it is of credit to road-users that the situation is not far worse.

Humans are not infallible; it is only on the roads that a minor lapse of concentration or misjudgement can have such horrendous consequences.

Seen collectively, far from being ‘accidents’, this is a price we willingly pay for the convenience of our cars, along with pollution, noise, global warming and environmental destruction.

Anyone who thinks that tinkering with speed limits, drink-driving, potholes, etc offers a cure is living in cloud-cuckoo- land. Drastic physical and legislative measures are needed, which inevitably mean restricting the sacrosanct ‘freedom’ of the motorist. If they seriously wanted to save lives rather than public displays of hand-wringing and crocodile tears, Government ministers, the Department of Transport, the National Safety Council and the motoring organisations should accept that the only solution is to restrict the right to drive to those of the highest competence and provide extensive railway and bus services for those who either don’t want to or are forbidden from driving.

Michael Job

Rossnagrena

Glengarriff

Co Cork.