The Echo (Aug 24) carried a story of a 20-year-old man receiving a derisory 2½ year sentence for causing the death of a cyclist by driving at 70mph along a residential road.

On the same day, in the In the Courts column, there was an account of a teenager driving without a licence, at up to 80mph along Victoria Avenue (where the limit is 40mph). He was given fines of £132, as well as six points on a licence that, in any case, he doesn’t have.

With such a total lack of deterrent, how long will it be before a driver like this is another front page killer, just like the one in the Echo, who had already been caught speeding and to whom any presumably similar pathetic levels of punishment meant nothing.

The failure of the previous Government to increase prison accommodation levels, coupled with a namby-pamby judicial system, sadly means the only cost will be borne by the victims and their relatives while criminals (for that is what they are) are at most just slightly inconvenienced.

Speed cameras and fines don’t work – proper prison sentences and lengthy driving bans, might just focus the minds of even these idiots a little bit more effectively.

John Pritchard
New Road
Hadleigh