Comment & Analysis: There are few things more frustrating to me than hearing a punishment is being made harsher to reduce offending. The fine can be a million. If its not enforced, it makes no difference at all.The account Is it a Bike Lane? on Bluesky said: Can I shock you? I dont think prison sentences for dangerous drivers are too lenient. Deterrence depends more on *likelihood* of being caught. So massively increase enforcement, not sentences, to end [the] sense of impunity And LONG driving bans. End the exceptional circumstances scam.To expand on this thought, and disagree with the Is it a bike lane? account on one point: Like fines and prison sentences, the length of a driving ban makes no difference, at least in Ireland. As a rule, people simply ignore the law.Combine that with the RSAs well-intentioned but woefully poorly thought-through advertisement that made headlines recently, which frames people who dont drive as a burden on others. What is the more likely outcome of the advertisement: that young male drivers will drive more safely, or that they would be even more unlikely to actually comply with a driving ban?The ad was informed by research through focus groups, and determined that They perceived their licence as being the key to their independence and they indicated that the prospective loss of their licence could fundamentally shift their driving behaviours.One of the things qualitative researchers must take into account is social desirability bias (thats a Wikipedia link with plain language; just search the term if youre interested in a more academic explanation), and I have to wonder if it was sufficiently considered here.What is the likelihood of the young men admitting to an interviewer from the RSA that a driving ban would make little to no difference to whether they drive, how often, and how?Theoretically, if they were truly unable to drive any more, then yes, of course, they may be moved to change their behaviour, but lets be real: the only thing that advertisement accomplished was to make it less likely that people would choose transport modes other than driving, and more likely to keep driving no matter how many bans the courts slap on them.