ROAD RAGE
I read that those in charge of our transport system are suggesting adding an extra lane to the M25 where there are now only three lanes. This will have three effects: it will cost a great deal of money, it will disrupt millions of journeys for months or years, and by the time the new lane opens the traffic will already have exceeded the road’s capacity.
Given management capable of long-term thinking, they would add three lanes to the entire M25. This would enable lane repairs and resurfacing to be done without disrupting traffic and would provide a real chance of free-flowing traffic.
John Wallinger Upton Grey, Hampshire
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INSURANCE PENALTY
Where are we at greater risk of an accident — densely populated Britain or rural Ireland? Why then do car insurance companies typically ask for an extra £30 to extend comprehensive cover for a single week in Ireland? It’s not even as though there is confusion about which side of the road to drive on. If anything there should be a rebate.
Howard Price Liverpool
DORMOBILE PIONEER
I took exception to Emma Smith’s comment that in the past the motorhome had “all the pioneering spirit of Mary Whitehouse” (How the motorhome changed gear and drove up cool street, last week). Perhaps she should have accompanied my family in some of our forays across Europe in our Land Rover Dormobile. In the late 1960s we made trips to Yugoslavia across miles of unmade road, and the Soviet Union from Leningrad to the Black Sea, then home through Romania and Hungary and Turkey.
Yes, the interior was basic and short of “reclining leather chairs” but the experience was unsurpassable.
Josephine Bartlett Dorking, Surrey
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FRENCH LESSON
When a French petrol pump wouldn’t accept my English credit card (Letters, last week) I waited until the driver in front of me had filled up and then did a deal with him. I gave him €20 and asked him to put €18 of petrol in my tank using his card, giving him €2 for his trouble. He was quite amused and happy to do it.
Ray Davidson Guernsey
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CANDID CAMERAS
I fear Tony Balding may suffer a nasty shock in the coming weeks. He states that in more than 1,000 kilometres of driving in Italy he did not see a single speed camera (Letters, last week).
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Just because Italian speed cameras aren’t painted bright yellow and suspended on poles 8ft above the road does not mean they are not there.
Italian cameras (of which I saw at least two in every village I drove through in Tuscany) are painted green, are about 3-4ft high and look very much like litter bins.
Mr Balding may well be receiving in the post an Italian notice of intention to prosecute, as it would appear that he has driven through many speed traps without realising it.
Jeremy Oates Liverpool
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DANGER SIGNAL
Like Roger Cooper (Letters, last week), I too am driven to distraction by drivers who do not bother to signal, particularly when exiting roundabouts.
However, how tediously predictable that he blames BMW drivers. My father-in-law is the world’s greatest offender in this, but then of course it’s not his fault that he’s asleep at the wheel most of the time. That’s what Volvos are for.
Stuart Thompson Guildford
IT’S A GIRL’S WORLD
Surely Jeremy Clarkson has missed the point in his review of the Micra C+C last week. The car has a driver’s vanity mirror and a handbag hook. This is a car for girls.
Perhaps those people who pointed and sniggered while Clarkson drove it weren’t laughing so much at the car, but rather were amused by the sight of a man at the wheel.
Mike Williams Ystradfellte, Mid Glamorgan
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