The Minister, realises deaths on N11 are wrong.

Well it appears the Minister of transport Noel Dempsey has finally begun to realise that the deaths on the N11 should not be happening, he has finally conceded that Dual Carriage ways are safer than single lane roads.

The Minister said: “The projects announced today are built to various scales and are located throughout all regions. What is common to all of these projects, however, is that they make for safer roads. As Transport Minister, road safety is of paramount importance to me and better quality roads make for easier, safer, road journeys in less built-up traffic. High quality dual carriageways/motorways have been proven to be seven times safer than the roads they replace. By opening over 100km of new roads in 2008, we are adding significantly to the safety of our national road network.”
Department of Transport Press Office - Olive Stephens 01-6041089/ NRA Press Office - Sean O’Neill (086 8230600)

A little step backwards from a previous mail to myself when he said that,

“Unfortunately, no matter what action we as a Government take in terms of improving our roads the primary cause of almost 90% of all road accidents remains driver behaviour – mainly speeding. It is my understanding that the accidents statistics for the N11 as a whole do not indicate any significant deviation from this norm”

So is the Minister blaming bad drivers or bad roads?, or is it all political rhetoric to subdue the gullible voters.

So as a plea to the minister, please could you be more honest and a little less political, then the next time there is an election the voter won’t be voting for the devil they know and more likely to vote for the politician who gives a damn about the voters.

John

Is your vote a vote for green?

On the eve of the Irish general election I wonder if the voters are aware of the huge carbon footprint our potential politicians have been creating racing around the counties and country enticing your No.1 vote. Most of the politicians I have seen have arrived in large SUV’s, large engined cars and even our esteemed leader raced around the country in helicopters. I even saw a Green party candidate driving an aged van and no doubt it wasn’t exactly very green, but I believe the biggest hypocrite in the protection of the environment has to be our own Minister of the environment.

He is driven around in a hybrid car, now this is a good start but alas the green idea is short lived.

The vehicle he drives is a hybrid but the engine of the car is a 3.5 litre with emissions that are the same as a top of the range Ford Mondeo, if he really wants to be green surely he should avail of public transport, let’s face it he and his government rave about how great it is. Incidentally he will no doubt be claiming the car and the fuel that runs it as an expense, and as we all know we the tax payer is paying to keep him on the road. He and his office is also trying to raise taxes on large cars in the name of the environment, like the one he is driven around in, so not only will big car drivers be paying for the privilege but will also pay for out ministers privilege.

Now back to the election, all of the politicians running around giving out leaflets, this is another insult to the whole green attitude, 90% of these leaflets end up in the bin and as we all know the government want to charge for the privilege of producing rubbish, so not only are they relieving us of hard earned cash they are contributing to the rubbish mountain and helping skim the extra few quid from us to dump their literature. Is this good policy or just insulting to you and me the voter?

Please comment.