IN response to Stephen Sadler's remarks on speed cameras (Letters, July 17), I am perplexed by the blinkered views of motorists and motoring organisations who constantly complain about their use.

There are signs along every road informing motorists of the maximum legal speed limit. A safe and careful driver is one that can drive, not only within the limits of his or her vehicle and road conditions, but also the posted speed limit. How many more people will be killed and injured because this simple fact is ignored?

A camera is there to catch anyone who thinks that the rules of the road do not apply to them. If, for instance, speeding motorists were compared to a paedophile cult, do you think the police would ring up the night before and tell the offenders to expect a raid some time in the next couple of days? I think not.

That is why cameras should have remained hidden. Having all cameras brightly coloured only allows for the speeding driver to slow down long enough to escape detection. The fact that people are still being caught by these new 'high-visibility' cameras must tell us something about the level of concentration used by these drivers.

If you were crossing the road who would you want to drive around the corner, someone driving carefully and within the law, or someone driving over the limit who can't see, even with a posted warning, a bright yellow box on top of a pole?

As for Mr Sadler's comments on checking his speed being dangerous, a glance at the speedometer is no more distracting than looking in the mirrors! It would seem that the speedometer, mirrors and indicators are fast becoming things that the modern motorist doesn't know how to use.

The standard of driving in Britain is, as any traffic officer will tell you, nothing to shout about and accident rates will continue to rise as more people pass their driving tests and bad driving habits propagate. Until it is the driver that has to be insured and not the vehicle, a lot more drivers will keep the accident rate up.

Finally, if the money from camera fines does not go towards road repair and the surfaces of roads are so bad, why are we all driving so fast on them?

MARK HARRISON, Thomas Street, Oswaldtwistle.