Males aged 17-24 account for just 6 per cent of the population but one in five driver deaths.
Such figures have prompted calls for a clampdown on "boy racers" commonly associated with flashy cars decked out with spoilers, metallic hubs and brightly-coloured bodywork.
However, modified car enthusiasts say the connection is flawed, and believe that they are being victimised for the crimes of a few rogue drivers.
Paul McCarthy of Flush Bus magazine, which hosted a customised car show in Dublin earlier this month attended by 7,000 enthusiasts, said: "Just because you have a tinted window or a louder exhaust it doesn't mean you are a danger on the road."
The proposed ban would "put more stresses on the gardaí because they are going to have to go around with decibel-readers", he added.
Brian Farrell of the National Safety Council expressed some sympathy for this view.
He said the "attitude" of the driver was more relevant than the type of car from a safety perspective.
"There is a danger that we would tar all young drivers with the one brush, and use the tag line 'boy racer'.
"A 17-year-old male is just as likely - if not more likely - to get killed in his mother's Nissan Micra as some of these guys are who have spent an awful lot of money on their cars."
