The story "Deathly menace of young drug-drivers" (The Argus, January 28) made me remember a previous editorial about the banning of roadside shrines (The Argus, January 19).

The figures for drug and drinkdriving are there for all to see, and for once it's not something that we can blame on the youngsters. I know from my own experience that drink-driving was far more tolerated in previous years.

The campaigns which have made drink and drug-driving socially unacceptable are a good thing.

They should continue to drum the message home that anyone who puts the lives of others in danger is rightly a pariah.

However, banning roadside shrines would not be constructive, unless those shrines were replaced with something else to remind drivers of the dangers on our roads.

These roadside shrines do at least remind drivers that the vehicle they are travelling in is potentially a killing machine and that they are in the firing line.

Elsewhere I have seen illuminated roadside signs informing drivers as they approach a known accident black spot of the statistics of how many accidents there have been and how many deaths have occurred.

Sobering enough to make anyone think twice about drug or drinkdriving.

  • Andrew Friend, Littlehampton Road, Ferrin