GODFREY Bloom (Letters, January 13) is right to criticise the proposal to limit speeds to 60mph over a 34- mile stretch of the M1.

Has the Government really looked into this idea? A vehicle travelling at 60mph will take around an extra six minutes to cover that distance than one travelling at 70mph. Yet those extra six minutes will not make the slightest difference to reducing exhaust emissions. In fact, it may cause more air pollution.

Those six minutes have to be multiplied by the thousands of vehicles using that stretch, and then it becomes apparent that there is a good chance of more, rather than less, CO2.

Government proposals are so often flawed and in reality directed at other parties (The Greens, for example) to appease them rather than toward helping the man or woman in the street.

Leaving the 70mph limit in place makes much more sense.

Philip Roe, Roman Avenue South, Stamford Bridge, York.