Pomeroy on 1966 and 1914

Sir,
May I congratulate you on the stand that you have taken in the matter of the 70 m.p.h. speed limit. This seems to me to offer the alternative of a degradation of respect for the Law or the decline in the design of British vehicles which must lead them, as it has the American industry, into the production of cars unsaleable outside their native land.

It can be arithmetically shown that the maximum possible saving of life on the road is under 3%, and it is very doubtful it any positive figure will be secured. But even if it is, the small advantages must be most carefully weighed against the long-term disadvantages, and there are many evils such as alcoholism and venereal disease which are highly-injurious socially but in which, rightly, the Law plays no part.

Turning to a more cheerful matter I fear that your-correspondent—Captain Lamming–has been led astray in the matter of Peugeot use of front wheel brakes before 1914 and should drink more deeply of the Pierean Spring before he crosses swords with Kent Karslake. The car he has seen was built in 1914 for the proposed 24-litre Coupe de l’Auto race to be run on August 29th 1914 and has a bore and stroke of 74 mm. x 140 mm. After World War One this model won the 1919 Targa Florio and it was very like the 1913 78 mm. x 156 mm. 3-litre Peugeots which won the Coupe de l’Auto Race without the assistance of braking on the front wheels.

London, W.1. Laurence Pomeroy.