Madam, – Your correspondent Richard Bannister (Letters, May 6th) asks us to dispense with the maxim that “speed kills”, telling us he has just returned from Germany where there are supposedly a large percentage of motorways without any speed limits. I am wondering if Mr Bannister was in such a hurry that he did not study the statistics carefully enough. For example, in Bremen a new speed limit of 120 km/hour has been introduced for all motorways. This will only affect 6 km of the 60 km of motorways in Bremen, as the other 90 per cent, like much of Germany, already has a speed limit.
The statistics for fatal accidents here do not support Mr Bannister’s view: 4,467 people died in car accidents in Germany in 2008. The Statistisches Bundesamt states that for the first time in many years, excessive speed is now only the second highest cause of accidents. Especially with serious accidents, drunken driving was a significant factor.
Sound familiar? – Yours, etc,