AS A resident of Eastfield Avenue, with a speed hump immediately in front of my house, I wholly endorse the recommendations for the new speed restrictions of 20mph. However, I have to ask how is this going to be enforced.

At present, the speed limit is 30mph. Even with the speed humps in place, traffic - in particular, buses - regularly seems to exceed this limit, as the house shakes with any heavy vehicle passing.

This is very noticeable when the house is quiet early in the morning and later on at night. The speed humps don't slow the traffic down, so what effect is a 20mph sign going to have?

Fraser Roberts, Eastfield Avenue, Haxby, York.


ABOUT 40,000 road traffic casualties occur each year, and Mr Usherwood asks how many car drivers are found guilty following accidents with pedestrians and cyclists (Talking statistics, December 30).

I do not have figures for individual groups, but if he writes to the Home Office they may supply up-to-date figures.

Finding someone guilty in a court of law is a totally different matter to someone driving without sufficient care, so even if the figures requested turn up, they do not relate very well to actual safety.

I do have from a 1993 book (Death on the Streets), which states "prosecutions constitute some 20 per cent of the actions by police, occurring two million times per year". It details that 1.1 million people are fined, about one million have endorsements, 160,000 are disqualified, and nearly 15,000 receive custodial sentences every year.

Mr Usherwood quotes Jeremy Clarkson, who for many years seems to have glorified fast cars and speed. Probably about 1,000 people die and many thousands are injured each year due to speeding. It seems we need a law as much against glorifying speeding as we do against terrorism.

Colin Clarke, The Crescent, Stamford Bridge.