Madam, – I might as well add my two cents to the correspondence that chides road users for their behaviour (July 26th, 28th). Why do so few motorists (perhaps the majority) not realise that when a traffic light displays a green upright arrow, vehicular traffic is not permitted to turn left? An upright arrow means “straight ahead only”, an easy concept, don’t you think?
Then why is it so hard for pedestrians to cross at pedestrian crossings that are adjacent to such lights? It is a perpetual source of annoyance and at times humiliation for pedestrians that their right of way is constantly taken from them by people who can not (or do not wish to) understand simple traffic instructions.
Perhaps an even less ambiguous traffic-light configuration that illuminates a red left arrow simultaneously with the green upright arrow should be considered. Since thoughtful road use is an anomaly these days, we probably should not assume any road user is capable of more than rudimentary cogitation.–Yours, etc,
Madam, – Louise Lesovitch (July 28th) is quite correct in her assessment of the utterly disgraceful behaviour of the vast majority of cyclists in Dublin. It is indeed unfortunate that most of our gardaí seem to think that actually policing these people is beneath their dignity.
May I therefore offer a possible solution? Simply require cyclists to carry identifying number plates in the same way that cars do.
With CCTV cameras all over the centre of Dublin, the fines imposed for red light jumping alone would be enough to pay for Nama, and it would require hardly any effort on the part of the authorities.
Or would requiring cyclists to obey the same rules as everybody else offend our friends in the Green Party? – Yours, etc,
Madam, – Caoimhin De Bhailis’s call for greater enforcement of road traffic rules in order to raise revenue for the Exchequer by way of fines (July 26th), while no doubt well-intentioned, inadvertently highlights one of the fundamental problems in the Irish tax structure – that of taxes having inconsistent and competing goals.
Either a tax is designed to raise revenue, or else it is designed to discourage a particular form of behaviour. It cannot do both, because if we attempt to generate revenue from fines, this revenue stream can only be sustained provided drivers continue to break the rules, and in great numbers.
This paradox very much underpins one of the key revenue streams in Ireland — that of excise tax. These taxes, whose justification is to discourage the consumption of goods that have high social costs (petrol, tobacco products, alcohol), have become important sources of revenue. Under such circumstances, the Government has every incentive to ensure its citizens continue to consume the very products which are damaging to their health, safety and the environment.
We would surely not like the same to become true of traffic violations. – Yours, etc,