22/10/05

Government requires children to be killed before a crossing can be installed outside their school.

But I must take issue with her statement: "Excess speed is the single factor in fatal car crashes". It most emphatically is not.

Some years ago several police forces researched accident causes and concluded that speed was a factor in less than one quarter. The Transport Research Laboratory also conducted research and concluded that excessive speed was the prime factor in less than seven per cent of accidents.

The Department for Transport has also researched causes and says speeding is not the main factor in over 80 per cent of fatal and serious accidents. Excessive speed, it concluded, is not even in the top six contributory factors in accidents. The mantra "Speed Kills" is a Government sponsored lie that even its own department can refute.

May I suggest Anna Semlyen and others take a look at what Sweden is doing to try to reduce road accidents to zero. Try www. vision-zero. com. - Derek Thornton, Stanley Crook.

PRISON SYSTEM EXTENDING tagging and home detention curfew schemes will not solve the long-term problem of prison overcrowding (Echo, Oct 14).

We have to question whether sending low-level offenders to prison is the most effective way of cutting crime in the long run, when most prisoners come out and offend again.

At £37,000 per year, the cost of keeping someone in prison is enormous, and the cost of building new prison places even higher, at an average of £100,000 per place. Surely we need to put public money into community punishments that enable offenders to pay for the harm they have caused, and into measures such as drug treatment in the community which help people to turn their lives around.

We need to protect the community by locking up serious and violent offenders, but fines and community sentences are more appropriate ways to deal with minor crime. - Helen Attewell, Smart Justice, Durham. www. smartjustice.org POPPY APPEAL THE Royal British Legion will always be there, not only to help servicemen affected by world wars and conflicts over the years, but also those injured or traumatised in more recent operations in Afghanistan, Bosnia or Iraq and to support their families during the difficult transition back to civilian life.

The Poppy Appeal is the primary source of funding to maintain the Legion's welfare and benevolent schemes and to help over 300,000 members of the ex-service community each year.

Many of those who traditionally volunteer their services to the Poppy Appeal are themselves becoming elderly and many more volunteers are needed each year to replace those too old to continue.

Anyone over 16 can help. They only need to ring freephone 0800 085 5924. This would be the most positive way of saying thank you to those who have helped to win the freedom we now enjoy. - Councillor Elizabeth J Coulson, Chairman, Derwentside District Council.

LAW AND ORDER WHERE are the police, asks B Alderson, of Crook, writing of mindless thuggery and vandalism ( HAS, Oct 14)?

A very good question and one which many people in Shildon are also asking. The growing tide of vandalism and anti-social behaviour is not unique to Crook nor it seems, is the total lack of ability on the part of the police to sort the problem out.

Less talk and more action (on the thugs and vandals) is needed.

Something that is not happening in Shildon and clearly not in Crook either.

People are sick to death of hearing the low crime rate mantra trotted out by Durham Constabulary at every possible sound bite.

Tony Blair stated these sort of problems would be addressed and dealt with. My message to him is that they aren't. And may I through this letter publicly invite him to visit Shildon and see for himself? I'll put the kettle on shall I? - PG Deakin, Shildon.

CLUB MEMBERS I AM writing a doctoral thesis and gathering material for a book, both of which are concerned with the interior design of British workingmen's clubs - roughly from the period 1945 -1995.

I wonder if any of your readers who are either club members now - or have been members in the past - have any old photographs of the interior of their club that I might look at, and perhaps copy? It does not matter if photographs feature certain people or family members - it is really the background, ie the furniture, wallpaper, carpets and so on, that I am interested in.

Alternatively, if any readers have any other materials, ie club magazines, posters etc. or have been involved (perhaps at committee level) with decision making about furnishing, decoration, refurbishment etc, please would you get in touch?

Any contribution will be gratefully received and duly acknowledged in publication. - Scott Oram.

scott@oram76. fsnet. co. uk LITTER PROBLEM TWENTY years ago I returned a cigarette packet discarded by the driver of a car as he was waiting at a railway crossing. Minutes later the gates opened and the packet landed on the road again as he drove off. He was later fined £20 and said in court he merely wished to keep his car tidy.

There are many examples of adults telling youths to mend their ways (HAS, Oct 12 and 17) only to suffer insults and verbal abuse in return. Basically, the situation comprises an older, wiser person speaking disapprovingly to young, inexperienced people who aim to throw their weight around.

Youths try to show they have "arrived".

Even speaking politely does not hide the adult's underlying intention, which is to reveal a fault. Nobody likes to be accused of being wrong and very few take it calmly. Young people often respond well when treated with understanding.

A rebuke, even a polite rebuke, whether spoken or clearly expressed in body language, stirs resentment, whereas a genuinely friendly approach with an appropriate and well-timed hint may stir young consciences the importance of thoughtful social behaviour. Careful consideration on both sides would help to bridge the notorious gulf between the young and the notso-young. - DW Oliver, Sunderland.

HOSPITALS PRAISED I HAVE just spent two weeks as a patient both at the James Cook Hospital, Middlesbrough and at Darlington Memorial Hospital.

Mere words are inadequate to describe the wonderful treatment which I received at both these hospitals.

Nothing was too much for the staff. The kindness shown and the treatment I received was superb in every way.

The variety of food was extremely good and was wholesome, nutritious and tasty.

Despite the criticism which often appears and which is directed at the NHS, I wish to register my grateful appreciation.

Thanks are due to the surgical and nursing staff of Ward 24 of the James Cook Hospital and in equal measure to the doctors and nursing staff of Ward 52 of Darlington Memorial Hospital, who greatly assisted my recuperation subsequent to my operation. Thank you all very much. - T Ibbotson, Darlington.