No excuse for speeding drivers (From Gazette Series)

No excuse for speeding drivers

SIR - Forgive my suspicious mind, but Giles Chichester MEP (No reason for speed traps, Gazette, December 19) writes like someone who has been caught by one!

Whether or not traps should be visible (so that drivers can slow down until they are around the corner) or not, is debatable. However, excess speed will always make any situation worse; the faster you are travelling the longer it takes to react in an emergency. However brilliant a driver you think you are you cannot foresee the unexpected.

Mr Chichester wants the police to concentrate on those driving under the influence of drink or drugs and to catch 'bad' drivers for re-education. Does he believe that such people are always dutifully driving within the speed limit?

Drunks and druggies, their inhibitions dulled, are highly likely to be speeding; and I happen to think that breaking the speed limit qualifies as bad driving. So there is a direct correlation.

As to the fines - where else would Mr Chichester hit those breaking the law but in their pockets?

Mrs Veronica Soar Batley Court Oldland South Gloucestershire