IN Victoria, Australia, road deaths fell from 777 to 396 between 1989 to 1993, a fall of 49 per cent.

The main reasons for the reduction was effective enforcement of speed limits and campaigns against drink driving.

Having the right policies does save lives, but what are the right policies?

Driving too fast and without sufficient care leads to more accidents. We have more than 200,000 miles of roads in the United Kingdom. We need to enforce speed limits at accident blackspots and across the whole network for the best results.

The best way to achieve this is with covert speed enforcement. That is the police making every effort not to be detected, catching speeding drivers and fining them, plus penalty points or bans. Fixed speed cameras may be okay for selected locations, but the main effort should be widespread enforcement.

There were 560 people killed in drink-drive related crashes in 2003. The Government could lower the blood alcohol limit for drink driving from 80mg per 100ml to 50mg per 100ml. Countries including Belgium, Denmark, Germany and Spain already have the lower limit. Sweden has an even lower limit.

Many lives may be saved and injuries prevented by introducing the lower limit with appropriate publicity and enforcement measures.

Colin Clarke,

The Crescent,

Stamford Bridge.

Updated: 10:44 Monday, February 13, 2006