I'D like to say I agree with A Shurmer's letter (LET, November 5) in that the so-called traffic-calming measures currently in fashion are ill thought out and a waste of money.

The problem is the low standard of driving, the number of drivers who cut corners as if you are invisible when you approach the end of a road, use both sides of the road going round bends, using the wrong lane on roundabouts and, of course, the one every driver hates, late indicators or none at all.

That is just to name a fraction of the everyday examples of bad driving. As Mr Shurmer says, speed itself does not kill, it is when it is done in the wrong place, so even more of the speed cameras around Blackburn are not doing the job they could be.

They are sited in the wrong places: on dual carriageways near Whitebirk roundabout and on Yew Tree Drive are just two examples where going a little over the speed limit is unlikely to harm anyone. They would be better sited on roads near to schools or used to catch drivers going through red traffic lights. There are plenty of those.

The recent announcement that drivers could have to re-sit their driving test every 10 years has frightened some people, but I say it is a good idea and long overdue.

After drivers have passed the driving test, who is supposed to ensure that drivers continue to drive safely? The Police? Have you seen the state of most police drivers? They are a typical example of the problems I mentioned, so until they improve their standards of driving they won't even notice when others are doing something wrong.

Watch next time you are behind a Panda car and see how often the driver cuts a right hand corner or turns without indicating. They are no different to the rest of us when it comes to going over the speed limit.

Bad driving needs to be stopped and when bad drivers are banned the roads will become less congested. It's a simple solution to both problems.

R J WILCOCK, Astra School of Motoring, Woodville Road, Blackburn.

Converted for the new archive on 14 July 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.