The greater menace
Sir,
Like Mr. Patrick Harrington (December letters) I also enjoy Motor Sport. But that, I think, is all he and I have in common.
Poor Mr. Harrington! Two endorsements for speeding, one for crossing double white lines. I will admit that I see no great harm in an MG-B achieving its mediocre maximum on a dry, clear open road, devoid of pedestrians, animals or tractors and since Mr. Harrington gives us no details of his high speed heroism, charity compels me to assume that he restricts his speeding to suitable venues.
However, only a thoughtless oaf does 38 m.p.h. in a 30 m.p.h. residential road used by young children, or approaches the legal limit on the narrow, winding country lanes often praised by opposite-lock enthusiasts.
The same goes for crossing double white lines.
I rarely see one (law? Ed.) that is not essential to the safety of the people who could be victims of Mr. Harrington’s next accident. And since he mentions shop-lifting, I will mention that those who ignore double white lines are a far greater menace than petty thieves.
Before Mr. Harrington dismisses me as an old fogey, I will say that I ant in my early 30s, and that though I have never aspired to membership of the MG-B(oy) Racers’ Clique, I have owned a Tiger 110 motorcycle, AC 16/90, TR2, Lawrencetune +4, Coombes 3.8 Jaguar, XK140 and E-type. I also had a short, but promising, track career which, as you know, involves relative speeds beyond the grasp of the average string-back road-hog.
While I dislike some policemen’s attitudes towards motorists, their antagonism is scarcely surprising in view of the horrors they see. On July 1st 1977, I saw my sister killed fortunately instantaneously by a driver who was going (a) too fast and,(b) on the wrong side of a rural road.
The main difference between the driver of that car and Mr. Harrington apart from the fact that, thankfully, he will not get his licence back so easily is his dubious excuse that there was no double white line for him to cross.
Cricklade J. R. M. ALLISON