I read with interest the news (Times, March 21) of the recent installation of speed cameras in various streets in Borehamwood. Your report mentions, in particular, a new camera to be set up on the brow of one of the hills in Allum Lane. Despite having lived for nearly ten years in one of the houses closest to this new camera, I cannot recall one accident that could possibly serve as a reason for its installation.

Leaving that aside, however, the whole situation surrounding these cameras is absurd. Of course, speed is a major factor in very many road accidents and we would be mad to shy away from that. Nor, of course, do we express anything but the deepest regret for any life lost on our roads. But over recent years we have seen a growing reliance upon speed cameras so that now one would be forgiven for thinking that speed is the sole measure of safety.

What about the people who tailgate, whether on residential roads or motorways? Or those who don't indicate when turning? What about those who use mobile phones while driving and pay little attention to the road? My personal 'betes noires' are the drivers whose enforcement of parental will is so weak that their children don't wear a seat-belt. We never hear how many lives are lost because drivers, who are mostly either below or only slightly above the speed limit, fail to take their other responsibilities seriously.

My bad habit of travelling at 35mph around Borehamwood will come to an end, not because it is dangerous although it is slightly but because it is the only sin that can be punished without spending money on the police force. When the Shadow Home Secretary, Oliver Letwin, said that under this government we have a police state without the police, he was on to something.

Philip Whittington,

Knowl Way,

Elstree.