I have just watched Real Story on television, and was deeply saddened by the tragic deaths of two young children, caused by a lorry driver who ploughed into the back of their parents’ car after driving for an excessively long period.
While I cannot say that a larger car would have increased their chances of survival in this particular instance, a more robust vehicle must certainly reduce the likelihood of life-threatening injury.
For this reason alone, I will continue to shun the efforts of the eco-nutters whose misguided campaigns aim to tax large cars off the roads, and will keep my precious family wrapped in a Volvo V70 (234g/km emissions) and would buy a large 4x4 tomorrow if I could afford it — irrespective of the road tax. Unless, of course, lorries and big commercial vehicles are taxed off the road first, in which case I’d be straight into a little eco-friendly Smart car.
Mike Smith, Bristol
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NATIONAL SPEED LIMITS
For the information of Bob Lester (Letters, November 12), the white sign with a black line is not a speed cancellation sign, rather it denotes the start of an area where the national speed limit applies.
This can be anything from 40mph to 70mph, and as a driver you are required to know what you are driving, and on what type of road, to know the speed limit that applies to you in such a zone.
Graham Martin-Royle,
East Sussex
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LEVY THE TORTOISE TAX
Long tailbacks on rural roads, especially in the summer months, are invariably caused by either commercial vehicles, Sunday-afternoon potterers or towed caravans. These cause no end of frustration for following vehicles, an increase in fuel consumption and no doubt extra carbon emissions.
Lorry owners pay significant road-fund duty, but caravan owners seem to have escaped the tax net altogether. Surely it is only equitable for these motorised tortoises to cough up. I would feel much happier in a queue knowing that the culprits were at least paying their dues.
Paul Down, Cumbria
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BLACK AND TAN GLOSS
Jeremy Taylor referred (Of all the gin joints in the world, November 12) to a black and tan thus: “The Guinness and bitter mix is named after the reserve force that quelled trouble in 1920s Ireland.”
I’m certainly no expert on Irish history, but I have never before heard anyone referring to the antics of the black and tans as “quelling” trouble.
These people were mercenaries mostly recruited from the ranks of soldiers who had served in the first world war. Their indiscipline and brutality instilled hatred and resentment in the Irish people and brought shame and embarrassment on the British government.
Peadar Conlon, Co Westmeath
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SEEING THE LIGHT
Andrew Frankel states that he thought of auto-dipping headlights first (First Drive, November 12).
Well I’m sorry to break the news, Andrew, but BMW has had a system called High-Beam Assistant available as a £95 option on most models for quite some time.
Andrew Scott, North Shields
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FOLLOWING MY OWN MAP
Jeremy Clarkson says (Think of it as the Golf GTI before it got fat, last week) that altering the “map” on an engine management computer never works, then he says that programming these computers is a compromise and then he recommends reprogramming the map in a Mini One to improve its performance. How many different points of view can you hold in one article? My car is remapped so that I can drive it smoothly, fast and in the UK while I have only given up the ability to use Serbian fuel and not service the engine for 50,000 miles.
A compromise, I agree, but one I can live with.
David Lewis, Poole, Dorset
GAS STATION CHALLENGE
Andrew Frankel’s article on hydrogen-powered cars (My chance to step on the gas, last week) was pretty reasonable, but he makes too much of the lack of hydrogen supply stations. Since there are no hydrogen-powered cars at the moment there wouldn’t be any service stations to provide it, would there? However, a country that managed to convert every appliance from town gas to natural shouldn’t have much difficulty in installing the necessary electro-hydrogen infrastructure (including, if necessary, nuclear electricity).
Neville Peel, Hyde, Cheshire
CHEAP CALLS
I read your article (Hello world: it’s free calls all round, last week) with great interest as my company, Avantimobile, already provides automated connection to low-cost, but high-quality voice over internet protocol (Voip) services for existing mobile phones without the need of Wi-Fi hotspots or Dect phone. Avantimobile automatically reroutes more expensive calls via its own switch, using the existing mobile networks for the initial connection. This means callers to overseas numbers are charged at a much reduced rate compared with the mobile network operators.
Tony Lloyd-Weston, Avantimobile, Crewe, Cheshire
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