Speed Limits and Accidents

Madam, – I have just returned from Germany, where a large percentage of the motorway network has no speed limit

Madam, – I have just returned from Germany, where a large percentage of the motorway network has no speed limit. Four years ago the German federal interior ministry concluded that autobahn sections with unrestricted speed have the same accident record as sections with speed limits. Given that, could we please dispense with the old maxim that “speed kills”? There is nothing inherently dangerous about driving at high speeds on roads that have been built for the purpose. – Yours, etc,

RICHARD BANNISTER,

Pembroke Square,

Ballsbridge, Dublin 4.