I share Les Court’s concern over the bad drivers in Wiltshire (Gazette & Herald, May 1) but I believe there are other reasons too why motoring accidents are on the increase.

Firstly, there is the plethora of road signs with which drivers are now confronted. Essential messages intermingle with those of lesser importance and if you happen to be driving in a particular area or town that you are not familiar with you could have but a few seconds to absorb a welter of information that is alien to you, and sort out the priorities, as well as determining in which direction you need to go. The roundabouts in Swindon are fine examples of multifarious and confusing signage. He who hesitates is lost – and he could well suffer a shunt from the car behind.

And then there is the car itself, with all its modern day switches; with its multi-information displays; and with beeps and flashing lights just waiting to function be it to warn of an icy road or complete engine failure! And if that’s not enough to distract the driver there is a complex audio system and a sat nav to further hold his attention.

To the mix of confusing road signage and in-car distraction add the ever present mobile phone plus a dollop of road rage, flavour with excessive speed and stir in the fact that there is an increasing number of cars on the road, and you have a recipe for disaster that will inevitably become more frequent.

Fifty years ago I had a little car. And on that car I displayed the badge of the motoring organisation to which I subscribed at the time.

When a patrolman of that particular organisation happened to spot your badge as you were driving along he would give you a wave. And you would wave back. That friendly practice was stopped in the late 1960s. It was deemed to be too much of a distraction for car drivers. I rest my case.

Robert A MacMillan, Churchill Court, Marlborough.