In Sussex, flowers left by the roadside seem more noticeable.

Each bouquet must represent a road fatality. I'm saddened by these personal tributes. By my own experience of observing erratic and impatient motorists, I know driver error and speeding are a major cause.

Yet I am puzzled by those in authority who determine our speed limits.

From Tesco, at Holmbush, in Shoreham, travelling east towards Hove cemetery, the road has a 40mph limit but changes to 30mph by Hove Fire Station and into Brighton.

This entire stretch of road is residential. What is the difference between these two road sections?

From Kingston Beach, Southwick, towards Shoreham town centre, most of which is non-residential, the speed limit is 30mpg. Yet, from Holmbush travelling west, this part of Upper Shoreham Road is 40mph in a residential area.

The same applies in Lancing on the A27, where the speed limit is 40mph in a residential area.

Where is the logic? Why aren't all residential areas 30mph?

My enquiries indicate more than 3,500 people die on the roads each year.

Television adverts inform us that if you are hit by a vehicle travelling at 30mph, you have an 80 per cent chance of surviving, which higher speeds considerably reduce.

I am not an authority on road safety, just someone who chose to find out more about flowers I so often see beside the road.

-Peter Mitchell, Shoreham-by-Sea