In the Gazette last week, a story was published about the decision of Wiltshire Council not to lower the speed limit through Mile Elm, near Calne, the scene of several serious and fatal accidents.

The reason given was, basically, as drivers took no notice of speed limits there was no point in spending money on changing them. This is, in my view, pathetic. There are many accidents every day due to excess speed and lack of consideration for others. We still kill some 2,000 and injure around 750,000 every year in Britain on the roads, with speed being a significant factor. It is widely recognised now that the faster we travel the more likely we are to be unable to avoid being involved in an accident and the faster we are travelling the more serious that accident will be. So why do so many people still drive too fast too often?

A further factor in the high rate of accidents is the tendency for many drivers to follow far too closely behind the vehicle in front so that when it reduces speed unexpectedly they have too little time to avoid running into it. This is seen every day on the roads and, unfortunately, seen far too often on motorways, hence the number of multi-vehicle pile-ups.

As a well-known former Prime Minister once said, what we need is education, education, education. To which I would add penalty, penalty, penalty. Much more enforcement of the law is needed to save lives and crippling injuries.

Jim Andress, Former chairman of Chippenham road safety committee.