SIR - I do not agree that being a learner driver for 12 months is going to cut down the number of road casualties.

I had ten lessons, one a week. Had circumstances allowed, I would have taken them all within a period of two weeks. Two, ten or 50 weeks duration would have made no difference to my ability to drive a car.

Maybe a minimum number of lessons should be the criteria, although one or 51 wouldn't make a difference. I believe lessons have no bearing on what kind of driver we are, they only help pass the test.

It is the reluctance of the majority to have a safe driving attitude which is the problem.

A combination of that and a powerful car may attribute to why one in four casualties are aged under 25.

Should we, therefore, look at restricting the driving of vehicles over a given horsepower, for all aged drivers, until say at least five years after passing a test?

What we should include in driving lessons is comprehensive training of what is not acceptable as a safe standard of driving.

William Oliver, Gerard House, Fairhaven Green, Idle