Letter: Speed kills

Speed kills

Sir: Why are we so surprised that a 19-year-old boy racer has lost control of his sports car and ended up on the pavement killing two elderly sisters ("Teen Porsche driver guilty of killing", 2 October)?

Excessive speed is a factor in one third of all road deaths - that is about three every day of the year. When are we going to learn that if you give people fast cars to drive, they will drive them fast?

The public highway is not the place for these obscenely overpowered cars, which should remain where their designers so often remind us they were conceived - on the racetrack.

Safety for all road users can only be achieved by slowing cars down. This means 20mph limits in all residential areas. It also means fitting variable speed limiters to all cars, since 72 per cent of drivers have no respect for the current 30mph urban limit.

We are fortunate to have gun laws in this country. The time has come for car laws.

RICHARD EVANS

Merton Cycling Campaign

London SW20