WE'VE all seen that stark, blunt slogan which says: Speed kills. As a general observation, it can only help towards road safety, and few would object to it.

Statistics show that driving at speed increases the chance of having an accident, and also makes a more serious outcome more likely.

But that does not tell the whole story. 'Speed kills' is a sweeping generalisation. It is too easy to simply condemn the idea of speed, as though adhering to speed limits would solve everything.

FACT: On a 70mph-limit motorway, there are times when 50mph can be dangerous.

FACT: Even in a 30mph area, it is not always possible to drive safely at 29mph.

The problem is not simply speed, but speed in the wrong place and in the wrong circumstances.

Speed is an inevitable aspect of driving any car. The whole purpose of the car is to allow people make their journeys quickly. The point in question is: How quickly?

The issue of speed limits has been brought into focus again in recent days in the Wiltshire Times.

We reported last week that MG, the well-established British sports-car marque which reborn Rover has deliberately promoted to boost the struggling company's fortunes, was criticised over its sports-orientated advertising.

You might not be too surprised to find that MG's adverts were sports-orientated, but the Advertising Standards Authority received a complaint that the advert placed an undue emphasis on speed and 'encouraged irresponsible driving'.

After a rebuke from the Advertising Standards Authority, MG suspended its newspaper campaign which used the slogans 'Full Fat, High Caffeine and Maximum Strength' and 'Life's too short not to'.

MG marketing boss John Sanders replied: "We make no apology for the fact that the new MG range is faithful to the MG tradition of producing genuine sports cars."

He added: "The advertising campaign does not talk about speed.

"It is designed to appeal to people who like the freedom to make their own choices, and not be dictated to."

That sounds perfectly reasonable. Owning a capable car doesn't force any motorist to drive it dangerously or without consideration for others.

The Wiltshire Times was also rebuked last week in a letter from Cllr David Lovell of Warminster Town Council.

He pointed out that our 'On the road' column, which samples a different car each week, sometimes includes a remark indicating that we had driven it at speeds greater than the 70mph speed limit.

As we pointed out in reply, observations about speed and performance are available from various sources, and shouldn't be taken to mean that we race thoughtlessly along Britain's highways.

The official timings which each car takes to drive from a standing start to 60mph are available in official (Government-backed) figures, because it is accepted that this sort of information is worthwhile to a potential buyer.

It does not mean that by publishing this information, the Wiltshire Times is encouraging drivers to race up to 60mph in a 40mph area.

When new cars are launched, we happy band of motoring journalists are usually invited to a special press event. These are often held abroad, where speed limits are different, and sometimes are held in Britain on private race tracks.

So if we report, for example, that a certain car drives peacefully at 90mph, it need not mean that we've just deliberately broken the law.

OK, you say, but in a country with a 70mph limit, driving at 90mph shouldn't matter.

Maybe, but to a lot of people it does matter.

And if motorists shouldn't even consider driving at over 70mph, why is the British motor industry allowed to sell cars which can invariably exceed 100mph.

Certainly, most modern cars can exceed 70mph. I can't find any car currently in production which isn't a potential law-breaker.

So why doesn't the Government department which deals with road safety have a word with the department which deals with new cars, and tell them that such fast cars should not be available?

Personally, I don't think it should, but nevertheless that would seem the logical move.

If the Government is prepared to spend lots of money on publicity urging us to drive safely (and more slowly), why does it allow car makers to produce and sell cars which make a mockery of the 70mph limit?

If we really want to make the roads safe, the only total solution would be to ban cars altogether.

Until that happens, we must all learn to live with the car and the speed limit.