Sir - Susan Ganter is quite correct in pointing out the non-enforcement of speed limits on the A44 (Letters, March 2).

One constantly has to wonder about the lunatic drivers who overtake at 75mph just before the road narrows down to the next roundabout: Exactly which part of '50' is too complicated for them to grasp? The situation is just as bad (in some ways, worse) on the Botley bypass.

Had Ms Ganter contacted Thames Valley Police ("a strongly performing force", the police authority calls it), as I have done twice, she would probably have encountered the same well-rehearsed, superficially plausible excuses: "These speed limits are not there for safety reasons but to reduce the level of noise for local residents" and "This is an initiative of the county council, and we never supported it". What this boils down to is that TVP seem to think they can pick and choose which legally-enacted regulations they wish to enforce, and which they disagree with and can ignore. Even if no safety aspect were involved - and it most certainly is - such an attitude is not acceptable.

From the A44 at Yarnton and Begbroke branch off residential streets, therefore road safety is an issue. The same is true at Botley, especially southbound, where the curve in the road and the adverse gradients make joining the bypass from the side-roads on the east hazardous at the best of times. With juvenile would-be racing drivers hurtling past at idiotic speeds at all hours, this becomes much worse still. But perhaps it really is only a 'noise issue' we shouldn't be bothering TVP with.

John Kinory, Steeple Aston