MR C MURPHY accuses us, in his letter of February 10, of missing the point over the issue of speed control humps.

I found his letter to display an uncaring attitude.

It is he and many other of your correspondents who completely miss the point. The point is, even though pedestrians may be largely to blame, it is always the car that kills, no matter how responsibly it is being driven, and always the pedestrian who dies.

Cars parked by the roadside will always be with us and, no matter how much road safety is taught, little children will always inadvertently run into the road, and drivers will always drive as fast as they think is reasonable, which, in built-up areas, is too fast.

It should be our duty, as caring citizens, to take whatever steps are necessary to reduce death and injury on our roads. Where an incident occurs, the vehicle speed is critical, as the injury-causing potential is proportional to the square of its speed. At 30mph, this is more than twice as great as at 20mph. There is plenty of evidence to show that speed humps save lives.

Here are some of the main reasons why this must be so, comparing 20mph to 30mph.

a. The pedestrian will have more time to take evasive action.

b. The driver will have more time to take evasive action.

c. The car's braking distance will be more than halved.

d. If a collision does occur, the damage caused will be much less severe.

To reinforce the main point, however, which Mr Murphy misses, no matter who or what is to blame, it is the car that kills, and the little child who dies.

David Haworth

Upper Mead

Egerton, Bolton