Unsafe driving, not speed, is the real menace

A WHILE ago, a Chief Constable admitted freely that he exceeded the speed limit on a daily basis. Was he, as Father McNicholas (The Yorkshire Post, November 19) suggests, driving carelessly? I doubt it. More than likely, he was devoting the majority of his attention to what was happening on the road ahead, rather than peering obsessively at his speedometer.

Just because you unintentionally go a little faster than the prevailing speed limit does not make you a speed freak, or a boy racer. I am sick and tired of perfectly ordinary drivers being demonised for committing what are, after all, just technical offences which, in the vast majority of cases, do not impinge upon the safety of any other road users.

I would be the first to condemn anyone who drove carelessly, recklessly or dangerously. They are the real speed merchants. It’s just that they are difficult to catch.

Prosecuting “speeding” grannies is much less effort and turns in a good profit, too. As for 20 mph speed limits, they are impracticable. In any case the average speed of urban vehicle/pedestrian collisions is just 11 mph. So a 20mph limit doesn’t really help at all. Low speed limits lull pedestrians into a false sense of security.