Sir - Angela Dublin's "catastrophic lack of judgement" in May 2005 caused the Oxford Eastern Bypass tragedy. She killed four people, seriously injured herself and others, and spread grief and pain through her community.

But she has served two years' jail, she is remorseful, and her crime was unrelated to her nursing.

Hence the Nursing and Midwifery Council decided that suspending her for a year would be penalty enough.

Oxfordshire road safety department's view is different. One penalty must continue indefinitely - and the innocent must pay it. In 2005, the county council reduced the Eastern Bypass speed limit to 50mph. Why? Speed did not cause the accident. Only Mrs Dublin caused it, and only the central reservation's lack of a barrier let her car hit Mr Hillsdon's.

The grieving families did us all a service by demanding a crash barrier, but were wrong to demand a lower speed limit. The Eastern Bypass is planned and engineered for 70mph traffic.

But the local MP and councillors also disregarded the facts and backed the emotional campaign, and our county council gave in.

This illogical 50mph limit is widely flouted, fostering disrespect for better-justified speed limits elsewhere. Highway engineering, not high emotion should set the limit for these four miles of trunk dual carriageway.

Garsington Road junction has slip roads, Sandy Lane West junction has excellent visibility and the other junctions are protected by traffic signals. Only the footpath crossings at Spring Lane and Brasenose Wood remain vulnerable. These footpaths need footbridges. Council taxpayers would not necessarily have to pay for both bridges. In Jericho, Spring Residential seeks to build a footbridge that nobody wants. Let Spring build one of the bridges over the Eastern Bypass instead.

Hugh Jaeger, Oxford