I write in response to your article 'Woman killed in A64 horror crash' (June 2) which speculated that the recent accident would prompt fresh calls for the A64 to be dualed.

An effective and vastly cheaper alternative exists to dualing the A64 between York and Scarborough, which would both make the road safer and increase capacity.

Introduce a 40mph speed limit along its entire length.

The slower moving traffic would reduce the dangers caused by vehicles turning directly into a stream of 70mph traffic and encourage smoother flowing traffic, rather than the 'stop-start' driving which causes so many delays.

There would also be significant environmental benefits because most modern petrol-engined cars can cruise at about the lowest efficient revs possible in fifth gear at around the 40mph mark.

The quid pro quo would be a slightly increased journey time.

From a back-of-the-envelope calculation I estimate that such a speed limit would add around 15 minutes on a York to Scarborough journey in normal driving conditions - roughly, an increase from 60 to 75 minutes.

But most people would agree that this would be an insignificant price to pay for the reduced congestion - many journeys would probably become shorter - let alone the safety benefits.

Such a limit was introduced on the road across Dartmoor when I lived in Devon in the early 90s.

After initial hostility, most regular users of the road agreed that the 40mph limit made travelling across the moor safer and more reliable, especially during the summer when there was a large volume of tourist traffic.

Leo Enticknap,

Bootham, York.

Updated: 10:06 Saturday, June 05, 2004