Regarding the front page article (LT, April 9) about imposing a blanket 20mph speed limit borough-wide.

Firstly, I fully support any credible efforts to reduce the number of injuries and fatalities on our roads, but this would have to be via a process of education of both children and adults, and a general willingness from our citizens to comply, as enforcement would be virtually impossible short of speed cameras every hundred yards or a policeman on every corner. More speed humps is certainly not the answer. I live in the middle of a 20mph zone in Shadsworth, and the speed humps on Rothesay Road are certainly no deterrent to motorists. Vehicles doing 40 or even 50mph are not uncommon on this road!

In fact, the humps are more likely to cause injury and even a fatality than save lives. They are full of ruts and deep potholes caused by lorries and eight-ton buses.

They have been repaired so often that none of the original tarmac can exist, and each repair lasts a matter of weeks.

Before anyone blames the hard winter, I can assure you this has been going on for three years.

Chicanes, while more expensive, must be more cost effective in the long-term, and are certainly more effective in reducing speed.

So, Mr Harrison, the question is not just in the emotive comment of ‘How many kids will die?’ – it’s also about how many adults, pedestrians, motor-cyclists, cyclists etc can be saved from serious injury or loss of life, and that will only be resolved by better roads and layouts, drivers, riders and pedestrians having a common courtesy for each other, parents and schools teaching children road safety, parents being extra vigilant when children are around ‘heavy traffic’ areas, less street furniture, and a seriously heavy hand on those who flout the law.

Coun Jim Shorrock.

Shadsworth with Whitebirk.