24 JANUARY 2004, Page 27

Rapidly wrong

From Guy Chapman Sir: I note that Paul Smith of SafeSpeed has asked for a correction on the grounds that 'my reputation, as a serious researcher and road-safety campaigner, is important to me and I must defend it' (Letters, 17 January).

He might like to start by removing from his website the page in which someone claiming to be him asserts that we could have the same level of road fatalities with a rigidly applied 12mph speed limit, An idea of such staggering stupidity advanced in the name of any serious road-safety researcher would, after all, be a fatal blow to their credibility.

Guy Chapman

Caversham, Berkshire