Sir – Often now when I drive locally on main roads I’m surprised by new 50mph speed limits, sometimes 40mph, and I can rarely see the justification. The Nanny State is certainly flourishing here in Oxfordshire! Increasingly now we experience the farcical situation where the limit on a safe open ‘A-road is 50mph but if you turn off on to a narrow, winding, perhaps single track, country lane you can then legally drive at 60mph.

There are hamlets or villages where there are few houses on the main road, and in over 20 years I don’t think I’ve ever seen a pedestrian, so why has the limit through some of these been reduced from 50 to 40mph?

There may be side turnings, but the previous 50 limit was surely perfectly adequate, or does Nanny think we can’t cope with turning traffic without being forced to slow right down?

Instead of concentrating on safe driving, now drivers have to continually be on the look out for unexpected and unrealistic speed limits and also for any enforcement measures that might now be in operation.

So why have these speed limits been so widely imposed? Have there been accidents on those stretches of road? If there have been, what was really the cause?

Some drivers will drive too fast, whatever the speed limit, but it is an indisputable fact that speed alone does not kill or even cause accidents. There has to be another factor, such as dangerous or careless driving either by that driver or another road user.

Overtaking on a bend, distraction, lack of attention, alcohol, use of a mobile phone, etc. can, and often do, all cause accidents regardless of the speed of any of the vehicles involved, but a vehicle driven carefully, even if fast, is unlikely to.

Roger Sweet, West Hagbourne