Whether Simon Jenkins likes it or not (Get a grip, Westminster – Suella Braverman speeding is hardly the issue of the day, 22 May), Suella Braverman’s disregard for safety is the Westminster issue of the day. Speeding kills. It is the attitude that my life is more valuable than the life of anyone else on the road. The offence is further confirmation of the tinpot arrogance shown by a succession of this government’s second-rate ministers of state. Braverman needs a driving awareness course rather than points, and a tour of a hospital to see what speeding does to people.
Graham Murphy
Liverpool
• Simon Jenkins trivialises speeding. Exceeding the limit, although it is indeed rife, is serious and a major cause of deaths and serious injuries on the road. A limit of 20mph is an entirely sensible measure, and the idea that “London drivers now have eyes only for their speedometers” is nonsense. Anyone driving should have an idea of their speed without continually monitoring it, and if they haven’t, they are not safe to be on the road risking other people’s lives.
Dr Richard Carter
Putney, London
• Not for the first time, Suella Braverman has missed the point. A “private” speed awareness course would lack the essential whiff of self-imposed and shared humiliation that is part of the learning experience.
James Urquhart
Edinburgh
• My recent experience of a speed awareness course was very different from what Zoe Williams reports (Fretting about your speed awareness course, Suella? You’re anxious about the wrong thing, 22 May). I had an online course lasting about two and a half hours including a short break. The instructor was friendly and constructive. I never felt I was being shamed. A lot of the material was interesting and some of it was useful. I have been driving for more than 50 years, but I emerged with a will to become a better driver. So the course worked.
Tim Scott
London
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