Sir, - How, you may ask, has the property boom got anything to do with the increase in fatal road accidents?
Auctioneers, property developers, property commentators continually perpetuate the myth that all of Ireland is a mere jaunt away from Dublin. Houses in Mullingar are somehow in Dublin's new outer suburbia (e.g. "less than one hour from Dublin", "45 minutes drive from M50", etc.).
In order to maintain the illusion that there is little distance between these towns and Dublin, driving at high speed must be maintained on new and improved road networks. "Bottle-neck" towns slow down this compression of time and distance. When the driver eventually gets through the town he or she (mostly he) must accelerate to high speeds in order to maintain the illusion that he has purchased a house in Dublin's ever-expanding outer suburbs. - Yours, etc., Mike Moran,
Ennafort Road, Raheny, Dublin 5.