Speed limits need to be enforced in Caithness – and are only part of the answer
Speed limits just one of ‘key actions’ needed on roads
I refer to your article in the John O’Groat Journal of February 21. There seem to be many road users in Caithness, or visiting, who seem to completely disregard speed limits.
If the 60mph limit is reduced to 50mph they will continue to ignore the reduced limit in the same way that they ignore the 20mph limit in our built-up areas.
Whilst the intention to reduce accident numbers and consequences is admirable, the key actions must include enforcement of the existing speed limits; I am sure many road users’ perception is that a majority of accidents are caused by those in excess of the speed limit and this will not change unless the speed limit is rigorously enforced.
I say “key actions” because the risks on the roads include significant contributions from other factors, of which I raise three.
First is the issue of headlight glare. There is nothing fundamentally wrong with LED lamps, providing they point the right way when dipped. The law requires the cut-off shadow for dipped beam lamps to be dipped between 0 degrees and 2.5 degrees.
Zero degrees is not dipped; it shines straight into the faces of oncoming drivers, or even into their back windows; this is exacerbated by head lights being allowed to be up to 850mm above the road surface, which is above the bottom of the windscreen and rear screen of many ordinary cars.
It is not the drivers’ fault if the lights are set at the upper limit of the legally permitted angle of dip, it is a fault of the law. We need a change in the law to ensure that the cut-off shadow for dipped headlights reaches road level at, I suggest, 50 meters ahead of the vehicle. This would also mean that vehicles with higher mounted lights would need a greater angle of dip.
Secondly, whilst trying to see against oncoming headlights, there seems to be a recent practice of not reinstating white lines after loss by wear and tear or after road repairs.
In Caithness, most of our rural roads no longer seem to have either a central white line nor edge markers; these are a safety feature introduced to aid safe driving and it is entirely irresponsible of our road managers that these are not maintained, particularly on unlit rural roads.
Finally, despite the good efforts of the road repair crews, there are still large numbers of very deep potholes which have the potential to cause loss of control, either from impact or from evasive driving trying to avoid the holes.
Drivers are forced to spend a disproportionate amount of time looking at the road surface rather than where they are trying to go.
Mike Grain
Thurso
Small landowners also involved
I’d like to respond to Lindsay Ward’s letter ‘Gold Rush’ from last week. She is of course correct in her assessment, but I’d like to point out that it isn’t only “iconic estates with absentee landlords” seeking the pot of gold and who have a disregard for neighbours.
It’s also ‘small’ landowners. I live in Strath Halladale and we’re about to be inundated with the damned things, if a handful of crofters get their way.
Graham Thompson
Forsinard
Turning our backs on foreign aid
The UK government has plunged new depths as it proposes to balance increased defence spending on the backs of the world’s poorest by slashing development aid.
This move also breaks Labour’s Manifesto pledge to restore development spending, which had been cut by the Conservative government, to 0.7 per cent of gross national income.
The cut in aid is not just a moral dereliction of duty, betraying the world’s most marginalised, but on a practical level is a false economy, bringing greater instability to the world and making it less safe.
Conflict is often an outcome of war, famine, or persecution. Our finances should be spent on preventing this and not the deadly consequences.
As General Matiss, President Trump’s defence secretary in his previous administration, said: “If you cut the foreign aid budget, you’re going to have to buy me more bullets.”
It is amazing how a visit to a US President by the Prime Minister, Keir Starmer, can focus the mind, as the Labour government continues to dance to President Trump’s tune and turns ploughshares into swords.
Alex Orr
Edinburgh
