Sir: As I walked home through Bristol on Thursday evening, I was passed by streams of traffic, breaking the speed limit: just another evening in any British city. I watched an elderly man with a walking stick quite literally run for his life, as the oncoming traffic continued accelerating towards him: this, too, no doubt, like any evening. And I mused on your leading article of that day, which raised again that old chestnut, 'Why don't the police leave speeding motorists alone and chase real criminals?'.

Your editorial will have served to reinforce the idea held by so many people that motoring laws are only to be obeyed by others, if at all. The reality is that crimes like speeding are not trivial, they are the most evil and deadly things that most people ever do. We know that if average speeds were to fall by as little as 1kph, the death rate on our roads would be reduced by 5 per cent, injuries by even more. Five per cent of the annual death toll is about 225 lives. Surely you should be advocating the strongest possible measures to stamp out speeding and spare those lives.

Yours faithfully,

PHILIP INSALL

Bristol

11 March