Terry Field (Letters, last week) is right that unnecessary braking to read (overhead motorway) signs can cause accidents — it certainly creates congestion — but it shouldn’t happen. I can easily read the signs from well over 200m away. This is about an eighth of a mile, which at 60mph (a mile a minute) takes about seven seconds — surely long enough to read “time to next junction 22 mins”.
I find the new signs immensely useful and would encourage anyone who finds themselves having to brake to read a sign (assuming they are within the speed limit) to visit their optician.
Peter Black
Ormskirk, Lancashire
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PHONE CHARGES
Mark Brewster (Letters, last week) can’t understand why the owners of expensive cars don’t invest a further £25 for a headset for mobile phones. Might it be because the associated fine is currently a derisory £30, a restaurant tip for some people, and even then only the police can institute proceedings? With current staffing constraints and greater priorities, the chances of being caught and penalised by the police are practically non-existent in most counties.
The other day I saw four policemen in a squad car pull up at some traffic lights adjacent to a white van man using a mobile phone, only to glance across and drive away.
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Colin Drury
Vale of Glamorgan
FINE LINE
If speed cameras are being placed strategically to reduce or eliminate accidents then any increase in the number of fines issued means that they are not working. Increasing the penalty fines instead — with no upper limit — until accidents are reduced to zero must be worth consideration.
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Displaying the minimum fine on the camera may also improve concentration.
Elwyn Thomas
Aberaeron, west Wales
HIGH RISK
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So Howard Price (Letters, August 20) thinks that a loading of £30 on his comprehensive cover for a week’s motoring in rural Ireland is excessive? Take it from me, as someone who lives in rural Ireland, driving on country roads could be classified as a “dangerous sport”. As a consequence Ireland has a disproportionately high road death rate.
Pip Murphy
Westport, Co Mayo
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SAFETY NET
We decided to do something about the dangerous driving in our area by creating a new website for road users to report reckless motorists — www.betterdrivingplease.com — with a unique and highly searchable red/amber/green reports system.
Maybe your readers in other areas would be interested as we built it to help others too.
Andrew McGavin
Chipping Norton, Oxfordshire
FAILING THE TEST
I wish to express concern about the continuing farce at the Driving Standards Agency (DSA). Many driving tests have been cancelled since the one-day strike on July 17. Examiners are turning up late to tests and in the case of weekends — as I discovered — not showing up at all.
I’m sure thousands of learners like myself are now looking forward to a long commute to work on public transport. I would invite DSA/union members to pay the £68 monthly costs and get squashed on the Dewsbury to Leeds train, then accompany the school pupils of eastern Leeds on the No 4 bus doing impressions of Pete from Big Brother all the way to school.
Shaakirah Kasuji
Batley, West Yorkshire
FRENCH POLISH
I have been following with interest the correspondence about French petrol pumps (Letters, last week). The French have an admirable system at some of their self-service stations that I’m surprised has never been tried over here.
After filling up, the driver then drives to a kiosk at the exit to pay. The advantages are many. The driver doesn’t need to leave his car to pay and his exit is blocked by a barrier that can only be raised by the kiosk attendant.
The kiosk attendant is also safe from attackers and, most importantly, as soon as the fuel is in its tank the car moves out of the way, avoiding the frustrating wait imposed on following vehicles while the driver leaves his vehicle at the pump to go to pay for his petrol.
The only drawback is that the motorist isn’t confronted by sweets, food, ice creams and so on while paying — or perhaps that isn’t a drawback.
Stuart Johnson
Ravenshead, Nottingham
Letters for publication should be sent to Driving, The Sunday Times, 1 Pennington Street, London E98 1ST or e-mailed to drivingletters@sunday-times.co.uk.
Please include daytime and evening telephone numbers