Less preaching on road safety please

The RSA (Road Safety Authority) takes all the ‘praise’ when road deaths are down over a period, and blame the people themselves when numbers rise.

The arrogance of this self- styled, self-serving “authority” is astounding. They would have us believe all of their admonitions and placing of blame, especially on the young, is beneficial to the nation as a whole.

As a driver I deeply resent Gay Byrne and his colleagues in the pointless RSA, who believe they have the right to blame drivers for their own deaths in the case of fatal accidents.

This must be the foremost country where interference into the life of the individual is Orwellian to the point where responsibility for motor accidents is placed exclusively on the driver, ignoring all other factors which drivers encounter on a daily basis — not least the terrible conditions of our roads, many of which are a death trap. Accidents happen, whether or not there is a “cause”, yet they are an unhappy consequence of driving. We know we must be careful, and do not wish to be scolded on a daily basis by the RSA.

So for the New Year, let’s have less preaching on the airwaves from the RSA, and indeed the other bodies who purport to assure us that if we listen to their instructions we could live forever.

Robert Sullivan

Bantry

Co Cork