Breathe a little less?

SIR: I have been goaded into writing a reply to the nonsense written by Ken Chaplin in a recent edition of the Guardian.

His myths are typical of those perpetuated by the anti-car brigade.

Does he not know that the roads in Britain cover only approximately six per cent of the land surface?

You could run all the cars all day and still be barely able to register pollution.

Where does he get his figures for the economy of the bus? I can convey five people almost anywhere for the same cost as for one person on bus or rail: and my car is on time, clean, safe from yobs and economical.

"The number of cars will be doubled in ten years," he quotes. Who, may I ask, will drive all these cars? People of 90+ or children of six? What rubbish.

One of the major sources of carbon dioxide is the exhalation of the human (and animal) breath. Perhaps we should con-sider putting down a few of them to alleviate the so-called greenhouse effect, or plant a few more trees.

Has he considered the loss of revenue that would occur if, say 50 per cent of us motorists giveup our cars?

Some, like me, could not possibly do our jobs without a car. Far better to invest in a massive road-building scheme to smooth the flow of traffic.

The letter on the same page from Tony Mayes contained some real sense. I hope that he is listened to.

I personally would support more rigorous enforcement of the rules of the road. But I would never give up the independence and usefulness of my car.