Road carnage - Ban drivers who fail to get message

The gardaí have again issued what has become a regular bank holiday weekend warning of plans to be particularly active on the roads against speeding and drink driving.

On this weekend last year there were 330 arrests for drink-driving offences. But there were 381 drink-driving arrests last week. Some drivers are not getting the message.

Anything that helps to alleviate the carnage on our roads should be warmly welcomed from a social, economic and purely humanitarian perspective.

A new measure being introduced in Dublin is a 30km/h speed limit in certain areas of the city centre. Some drivers dismissed the idea as ludicrous, because they contend that the traffic in those areas is normally so congested that it is not possible to drive that fast.

Most fatal accidents, however, take place at night or in the early hours of the morning, so the new speed limit could be effective at those times.

There graphic ads on television about the horrors of accidents should being home to people the heartbreak of the slaughter on our roads.

Many totally innocent people are victims of irresponsible drivers who should be put off the road for everybody’s sake.

The Garda initiative is therefore warmly welcomed.