I am pleased David Williams (Oxford Mail, August 12) supports two of my road safety suggestions: lowering the speed limit to 20mph around schools, and cars should be more pedestrian/cyclist friendly.

He would expect me to defend my proposal that "we should consider in-car speed limiters". Mr Williams calls the idea "ridiculous". Is he aware of the latest research? A six-month trial found that volunteer drivers paid more attention as well as keeping to the speed limit. The system can be overridden to avoid a hazard. Leeds University researchers claim that if the satellite-based system was fitted to all Britain's cars, more than 1,000 lives a year could be saved.

London's transport planners have recommended that motorists who install the system should receive a discount on the congestion charge, which has just risen to £8 a day.

David Williams points out that the UK has one of the best road safety records amongst motorised countries, but British pedestrians and cyclists are more than twice as likely to be killed than in Sweden or Holland.

A driver doing 35mph in a 30mph zone is more than twice as likely to kill a pedestrian they hit than if they were sticking to the limit, yet two-thirds of drivers break 30mph limits by 5mph or more.

I hope all your readers will want to consider any proven system which reduces these figures. It is excellent news that project leader Prof Oliver Carsten describes the Leeds speed limiter trial as "incredibly successful." BRIAN HODGSON, Chairman, Witney Constituency Labour Party, Greenfield Crescent, Stonesfield, near Witney