Motor vehicles are wonderful, transporting people and goods great distances, in a comfortable environment, and protected from the weather.

However, motor vehicles are also extremely dangerous things, tons of metal travelling at high speed, with a human in charge of it’s direction.

I barely trust people with cups of tea on my sofa, yet I’m expected to trust someone driving a massive truck at 100kph on a narrow strip of road. To make it worse in Ireland the quality of that road can vary greatly.

But here’s the thing. It shouldn’t matter the condition of the road. A driver should adjust their speed in accordance with the quality of the road they are driving on, and with the conditions they are driving in.

If all vehicles could only do 30kph (I know this isn’t practical using it for illustration), there would be way less incidents. Speed is the biggest issue here. Even if the driver was on their mobile phone, putting on lipstick, and after twenty pints of stout, the probability of a crash killing someone (including themselves) at 30kph must be pretty low.

Driving is an unbelievable privilege to have. Just think how different your life would be if there were no cars or trucks or buses or tractors or vans or …

A vehicle in the hands of a driver who does not pay due attention to driving safely, is a potential life taker, and the driver a potential killer.

I’d like to see vehicle confiscation used as a deterrent for dangerous driving. The inconvenience of being vehicle-less might encourage people to pay more attention and be more respectful of life when driving.

If a bus was confiscated because of dangerous driving, the driver would be in trouble with their employer. If a father was on his phone while dropping the children to school, they’d have an issue the next day getting their children to school. If a farmer didn’t have lights on a trailer, a loss of the tractor for a few days might be enough of a deterrent to encourage them to better maintain their vehicles.

I’d like to see similar for illegal parking. People who park on cycle lanes, are putting their convenience above the life of people who cycle. Same with people who park on double yellows, too close to entrances, on footpaths, etc.

I don’t know if this would work, but what we currently have doesn’t work at all. Maybe it would be pointless to even attempt it, as it wouldn’t be enforced like many of our existing traffic laws anyway.