REFERRING to a recent letter from Cllr Nick Peel concerning road accidents, he is absolutely right in stating that Cllr Bob Wilkinson has got it wrong.

The statement that only five per cent of accidents are caused by speeding is about as sensible as saying that smoking does not kill because it does not appear as the cause of death on the death certificate.

While it is quite reasonable to argue that all accidents are a result of driver error, the truth is that, had the driver(s) involved been travelling at or below the legal speed limit, most accidents could probably have been avoided, and in those that did occur, the consequences would have been much less severe.

It is also true that, although many of your correspondents seem reluctant to accept the fact, on urban roads at busy times, the time taken to complete a journey is governed by the volume of traffic and the time taken to negotiate junctions. The time taken to travel between junctions has negligible effect.

The fact that it takes longer to travel along Moss Bank Way now is due to the increased traffic volume rather than the fact that single lanes have been introduced.

As regards the proposed modifications to Crompton Way - it will be the time taken to negotiate the traffic lights at Tonge Moor Road and Thicketford Road that determine the journey time, and if lives are saved, we should all be in favour of these changes.

In any event, what value are a few seconds saved compared to the value of a human life?

David James Upper Mead Egerton