DAVID Allen’s letter in the Guardian about motorists jumping red lights is just the tip of a huge iceberg when it comes to our roads.

I agree with his points about red lights.

Breaking speed limits is also very common.

The other day, I was driving on the A556, a road currently covered in road-works and with a temporary speed limit of 40mph.

I was driving at that speed and, in the space of a couple of miles, was overtaken by more than 100 vehicles, some of them clearly doing close to 60mph.

The signs are clear – what is there not to understand about a big circular sign with a red border and the number “40” in large print, spaced along the road at intervals of about half a mile? Nothing, obviously.

I believe that our roads have become a free-for-all for several reasons.

First, police do not have the budgets to police urban roads and everybody knows that, so nobody will stop drivers from breaking the laws, except on motorways which are, ironically, the safest of our roads.

Second, the world today moves at high speed in all sorts of ways.

So many lawbreakers on the road are simply drivers rushing to meet work targets and requirements.

Thirdly, a lot of drivers see driving as a competitive activity – they have to get ahead at all costs and see danger in nothing.

For such drivers the roads are not a shared resource, they belong to the driver and other drivers just have to get out of their way.

Fourthly, most drivers forget about the Highway Code about ten seconds after they have passed their test.

The Code is there for the test only and not for subsequent driving.

Worrying about these things does not help.

They happen and will go on happening.

All Mr Allen can do, if he values his sanity, is to cope and adapt his driving to keep himself and his car safe.

If you add to this the fact that most drivers will commit at least one error of judgment on every journey they make, you get a feel for the need for self-preservation and defensive driving techniques.

R Havenhand Cheshire