Madam, - The new VRT rates that will increase the cost of cars with larger engine sizes will have the unintended consequence of making driving less safe for the poorer members of society.
Larger-engined vehicles do cause more pollution, but they are also safer. Their extra power equips them to carry heavy safety features such as impact protection. I was taken aback last year when I saw pictures of the aftermath of a head-on collision between a car with a 2.5-litre engine and a car with a 1.2-litre engine in my area of East Cork.
The larger car was damaged and the driver suffered some injuries, but the smaller car was so badly damaged that it was impossible to recognise make and model and both driver and passenger had been killed instantly.
In a libertarian state such as ours banning goods is unwelcome and seems redolent of our impoverished past, but why not ban all vehicles with engines over two litres for private use? This would mean that the survival rates of those involved in collisions would not depend on the size of their bank balances.
Green policy is welcome, but policy that adds to the stratification of an already fractured society needs to be readdressed. - Yours, etc,
LORCAN BYRNE, Broomfield, Midleton, Co Cork.