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		Letter to the Editor Various regional publications - Wednesday, 9th August 2006 Dear Sir, So the government is proposing massive reductions in speed limits in rural areas. Perhaps we could save even more lives by reintroducing the Red Flag Act, passed in 1865, which required any powered vehicle to be preceded by a man on foot holding a red flag. But that of course would make modern life practically impossible -- which is why the Act was repealed in 1878. We in Britain have some of the safest roads in Europe. And most accidents are down to tail-gaters and drunk drivers and hooligans and joy-riders. Let's see more police on the roads looking for the minority of dangerous drivers. We don't need tighter restrictions on the great majority who drive with care. But then maybe the safety campaigners would like to see us go back to the nineteenth century. Roger Helmer East Midlands Conservative MEP