I've been away over Christmas and the New Year, so that I am responding with some delay to an article that appeared in the Telegraph on the 2 January 2000 ("Life sentences for dangerous drivers who kill"). I wrote to you last year on this important subject ("Speeding, a cavalier's offence - until you kill someone", 10 September 1999) and can really only repeat what I said then.

Every day tens of thousands of motorists are guilty of dangerous driving - mainly by speeding - but are fortunate enough to get away with it. It is the unlucky few who cause an accident that results in someone being seriously hurt or killed. It is not just to put someone in prison for several years
simply because he has been unlucky, or in order to satisfy a bereaved family's desire for retribution. Severely punishing the offender after the event makes no sense at all. The damage has been done. Out of one tragedy we make a double tragedy.

Every dangerous or speeding driver is responsible to some extent for most of the deaths and serious injuries that occur on our roads. They are the ones we need to clamp down on - before they kill or maim anyone. That would not only be more just, it would also be far more effective in reducing the number of deaths and injuries. Neither should it be necessary to send offenders to prison. They need only be banned from driving for appropriate periods of time.

All that is necessary is the courage and stand up to irrational motorists and the political will to show zero tolerance in respect to speeding and dangerous driving.

Yours sincerely

Roger Hicks