Accidents, sorry no they are incidents caused by peoples bad driving, and these incidents contribute largely to road deaths.
We dont need traffic calming, speed cameras etc. we need people to wake up when they get behind the wheel of their car and use common road sense and it doesn't cost a penny
Alan, Tonbridge, Kent
Make eye tests compulsory for drivers periodically to keep their driving licence. i wonder how many would fail and the reduction of unsafe motorists that would be removed from our roads.
pass your test at 17 drive till your seventy and you could be half blind. who'll know, till you kill somebody.
Alan, Tonbridge, Kent
I haven't noticed the attitudes that Mr. Leslie claims are behind so many pedestrian deaths: that walkers think they can get away with anything and so are careless. In fact, to me it seems nearly the opposite- that walkers defer to cars at nearly every opportunity, even when they have priority according to the Highway Code (for example, when they are already crossing a side road), and that drivers take little notice of them. As he notes, people on foot come off worse in any collision, and the walkers I see seem to take great care on this account. The drivers who are operating heavy and fast machines (the actual cause of pedestrian injuries), however, appear to be much less cautious.
S. Ensslin, Hinckley, UK
I feel that the main reason that pedestrian (mainly child) deaths are on the up is simple, the motorist is to blame. No pedestrian has to look where they are going, no child has to worry about what may be coming, as whatever happens the driver is at fault. There is no road safety education at all, anywhere, these days. People are assured that, even if they walk from behind parked cars, against the red man at a junction, in front of an emergency vehicle, that it's okay, as the driver is at fault. Unfortunately, even on the odd occasion when the driver is at fault (and I suspect most pedestrian casualties are the fault of pedestrians), the pedestrian comes off worst.
David Leslie, Perth, Scotland
A sadly misinformed article: seat belt laws didn't save any lives, they just transferred the risks to pedestrians and cyclists, who paid with their lives. The DfT at the time commissioned a report about seat belts (The Isles Report) which examined the situation in countries which had introduced a seat belt law, but it was never released, because its conclusion was that the death rate would rise, and that's what happened.
Two things happened at the same time, seat belts and drink-driving laws, and it is difficult to attibute the results to either, but since most of the fall in deaths happened between the hours of 10pm and 2am, it seems that almost all of the fall was due to the drink-driving law.
To the gentleman who thinks that cycle helmets reduce deaths to cyclists, why is it that no country which has introduced a cycle helmet law has been able to show any reduction in risk? They can show an increase in obesity however.
Read "Risk" by John Adams
Richard Burton, Bristol,
In addition to the 'Road by Numbers' article, not one single response has touched the root cause of the problem - there is little or no enforcement of road traffic law by the Police. Rural roads have become racetracks for young drivers, motorways are a veritable playground for poor drivers and still the death tolls rise. Most Police forces have either changed the focus of their traffic cars to that of armed response or the traffic cars are now driven by non-traffic officers. It is little wonder that poor driving goes unpunished - indeed, the knock-on effect is more footage of bad driving for mindless television programmes that not only show the poor driving, but when actually prosecuted, the drivers actually get their 'laughable' punishment televised. What a brilliant deterant!
New local partnership schemes, speed reduction awareness and tougher tests will continue to scratch the surface. Only effective policing of our roads will get the message across.
Also - I'm not in the Police!
David Robinson, Wiveliscombe, Somerset, UK
I simply do not believe that the majority of accidents are caused by incompetence , carelessness or agression. They are simply accidents. Nobody surely goes out to wantonly and deliberately involve themselves in a traffic accident in the knowledge that they may be seriously injured or spend a long time in prison of they are unlucky enough to kill someone. Of course I could be persuaded otherwise if the police published the results of the investigations they close the roads so long for to carry out. Then it might be possible to see examples from which we could learn.
John Haslam, High Wycombe, Bucks
A lot of the motorists who've posted seem to occupy a weird parallel universe in which the answer to 1/4 million dead and injured per year on our roads is to: persecute cyclists, raise many speed limits, remove most speed cameras, and build more roads!
paul newbold, sheffield, UK
Let's start by not calling collisions "accidents". They are the result of incompetence, carelessness, and aggression. Only in a small proportion are they to do with factors beyond road users' control. As for the the suggestion from Thomas Goodey, improving cyclists behaviour would not have a substantial impact on road death and injury, since the majority do not involve cyclists. None of the crashes I hear about on our motorways every day on traffic reports will involve cyclists. What we need is for all road users to have a better attitude to the responsibilities of using the roads. As a cyclist, I am concerned at pedestrians stepping into the road without looking because they cannot hear a vehicle. As a driver, I am shocked at the aggression shown by drivers towards others - especially if that person, like me, is keeping to the speed limit or has simply made a mistake. I suggest more traffic police are needed and lives can be saved..
Peter Salter, London SE16, UK
Population centres in Britain are far more densely populated and numerous than the Netherlands and Norway which may explain Britain's higher child mortality - more children in proximity to denser traffic, with idiot parents who insist on driving them to school, increasing traffic volumes at times when more children are about, rather than letting their little Dears walk or go on the bus..
As for falling statistics, there is the principle of diminishing returns. There will be a point where no matter what device - stronger legislation, increased social pressure, heavier fines - some individuals will not respond : the limit of improvement will be reached.
There is absolutely no reason for evident cultural grounds, why populations in different countries should always be comparable and show identical responses to the same stimuli. For example Northern Europeans tend to be more compliant to rules and regulations than Southern Europeans.
John Bowma,, Sarlat, France
Given the number of vehicle/passenger movements per day or per year I think the figure is remarkably low although every death and injury is a personal tragedy for somebody somewhere.
What are we to make of the even higher death toll from far fewer people statistically who enter an NHS hospital and are fatally infected therein?
I don't have the statistics to hand but I'd bet there is a far bigger scandal going unreported every day in the NHS, the so-called "envy of the Western world" that the government projects.
Still they kill our elderly relatives with their incompetence...
Mike, Newbury,
Accidents, sorry no they are incidents caused by peoples bad driving, and these incidents contribute largely to road deaths.
We dont need traffic calming, speed cameras etc. we need people to wake up when they get behind the wheel of their car and use common road sense and it doesn't cost a penny
Alan, Tonbridge, Kent
Make eye tests compulsory for drivers periodically to keep their driving licence. i wonder how many would fail and the reduction of unsafe motorists that would be removed from our roads.
pass your test at 17 drive till your seventy and you could be half blind. who'll know, till you kill somebody.
Alan, Tonbridge, Kent
I haven't noticed the attitudes that Mr. Leslie claims are behind so many pedestrian deaths: that walkers think they can get away with anything and so are careless. In fact, to me it seems nearly the opposite- that walkers defer to cars at nearly every opportunity, even when they have priority according to the Highway Code (for example, when they are already crossing a side road), and that drivers take little notice of them. As he notes, people on foot come off worse in any collision, and the walkers I see seem to take great care on this account. The drivers who are operating heavy and fast machines (the actual cause of pedestrian injuries), however, appear to be much less cautious.
S. Ensslin, Hinckley, UK
I feel that the main reason that pedestrian (mainly child) deaths are on the up is simple, the motorist is to blame. No pedestrian has to look where they are going, no child has to worry about what may be coming, as whatever happens the driver is at fault. There is no road safety education at all, anywhere, these days. People are assured that, even if they walk from behind parked cars, against the red man at a junction, in front of an emergency vehicle, that it's okay, as the driver is at fault. Unfortunately, even on the odd occasion when the driver is at fault (and I suspect most pedestrian casualties are the fault of pedestrians), the pedestrian comes off worst.
David Leslie, Perth, Scotland
A sadly misinformed article: seat belt laws didn't save any lives, they just transferred the risks to pedestrians and cyclists, who paid with their lives. The DfT at the time commissioned a report about seat belts (The Isles Report) which examined the situation in countries which had introduced a seat belt law, but it was never released, because its conclusion was that the death rate would rise, and that's what happened.
Two things happened at the same time, seat belts and drink-driving laws, and it is difficult to attibute the results to either, but since most of the fall in deaths happened between the hours of 10pm and 2am, it seems that almost all of the fall was due to the drink-driving law.
To the gentleman who thinks that cycle helmets reduce deaths to cyclists, why is it that no country which has introduced a cycle helmet law has been able to show any reduction in risk? They can show an increase in obesity however.
Read "Risk" by John Adams
Richard Burton, Bristol,
In addition to the 'Road by Numbers' article, not one single response has touched the root cause of the problem - there is little or no enforcement of road traffic law by the Police. Rural roads have become racetracks for young drivers, motorways are a veritable playground for poor drivers and still the death tolls rise. Most Police forces have either changed the focus of their traffic cars to that of armed response or the traffic cars are now driven by non-traffic officers. It is little wonder that poor driving goes unpunished - indeed, the knock-on effect is more footage of bad driving for mindless television programmes that not only show the poor driving, but when actually prosecuted, the drivers actually get their 'laughable' punishment televised. What a brilliant deterant!
New local partnership schemes, speed reduction awareness and tougher tests will continue to scratch the surface. Only effective policing of our roads will get the message across.
Also - I'm not in the Police!
David Robinson, Wiveliscombe, Somerset, UK
I simply do not believe that the majority of accidents are caused by incompetence , carelessness or agression. They are simply accidents. Nobody surely goes out to wantonly and deliberately involve themselves in a traffic accident in the knowledge that they may be seriously injured or spend a long time in prison of they are unlucky enough to kill someone. Of course I could be persuaded otherwise if the police published the results of the investigations they close the roads so long for to carry out. Then it might be possible to see examples from which we could learn.
John Haslam, High Wycombe, Bucks
A lot of the motorists who've posted seem to occupy a weird parallel universe in which the answer to 1/4 million dead and injured per year on our roads is to: persecute cyclists, raise many speed limits, remove most speed cameras, and build more roads!
paul newbold, sheffield, UK
Let's start by not calling collisions "accidents". They are the result of incompetence, carelessness, and aggression. Only in a small proportion are they to do with factors beyond road users' control. As for the the suggestion from Thomas Goodey, improving cyclists behaviour would not have a substantial impact on road death and injury, since the majority do not involve cyclists. None of the crashes I hear about on our motorways every day on traffic reports will involve cyclists. What we need is for all road users to have a better attitude to the responsibilities of using the roads. As a cyclist, I am concerned at pedestrians stepping into the road without looking because they cannot hear a vehicle. As a driver, I am shocked at the aggression shown by drivers towards others - especially if that person, like me, is keeping to the speed limit or has simply made a mistake. I suggest more traffic police are needed and lives can be saved..
Peter Salter, London SE16, UK
Population centres in Britain are far more densely populated and numerous than the Netherlands and Norway which may explain Britain's higher child mortality - more children in proximity to denser traffic, with idiot parents who insist on driving them to school, increasing traffic volumes at times when more children are about, rather than letting their little Dears walk or go on the bus..
As for falling statistics, there is the principle of diminishing returns. There will be a point where no matter what device - stronger legislation, increased social pressure, heavier fines - some individuals will not respond : the limit of improvement will be reached.
There is absolutely no reason for evident cultural grounds, why populations in different countries should always be comparable and show identical responses to the same stimuli. For example Northern Europeans tend to be more compliant to rules and regulations than Southern Europeans.
John Bowma,, Sarlat, France
Given the number of vehicle/passenger movements per day or per year I think the figure is remarkably low although every death and injury is a personal tragedy for somebody somewhere.
What are we to make of the even higher death toll from far fewer people statistically who enter an NHS hospital and are fatally infected therein?
I don't have the statistics to hand but I'd bet there is a far bigger scandal going unreported every day in the NHS, the so-called "envy of the Western world" that the government projects.
Still they kill our elderly relatives with their incompetence...
Mike, Newbury,
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