I WRITE in reply to the responses (Letters, December 17) to my letter earlier in the month. First, I would like to say how quick people are to judge: I never mentioned in my correspondence whether the incident involving a friend running a red traffic ligh

I WRITE in reply to the responses (Letters, December 17) to my letter earlier in the month.

First, I would like to say how quick people are to judge: I never mentioned in my correspondence whether the incident involving a friend running a red traffic light by 1.3 seconds was deliberate fault or genuine mistiming.

We all know it is illegal to drive through a red light - I don't need the Highway Code quoted to me. My point is that no one can live by the letter of the law and yet, in this incident, that is what the police camera is holding someone to. To police is a verb and there is no policing involved here. No room is given for a margin of error, as with a speed camera, for example.

My next point is to compare the macro with the micro. While the police are out there prosecuting people in St Neots for going over a red light by 1.3 seconds, elsewhere 1.4 million motorists are driving around the U.K uninsured and little is being done to target those offenders.

The police presumably cannot be bothered to go through the rigmarole of taking these individuals to court, hear that they cannot pay and make them stick to paying off their fines at a rate of £5 per week until they are cleared. It is far easier to stick a camera up in a relatively well-off town like St Neots and milk its inhabitants for their minor misdemeanours instead.

Finally, I do not accept the point that accidents are caused by 0.5 seconds. I think the incident in Godmanchester referred to by John White would have taken much longer than a handful of seconds. We all know that accidents can take place quickly but, equally so, we know that driving without due care and attention is not something that can be measured, detected and registered as missing a red light by 1.3 seconds.

Targeting competent, taxed and insured drivers with cameras is not proper policing and never will be.

STEVE O'HARA

Church Meadows

St Neots