Instead of wittering on about speed limits and a whole load of other things, it would be really helpful if TDATS would bring in some useful legislation.

For a start, the 30mph speed limit was brought in in 1934. At that time, there were still people about who had hardly ever seen a motor car, did not understand how fast they could go. Also, cars of that age had lousy steering, brakes, suspension and tyres. Stopping them was more like mooring a container ship, probably needing tugs.

So what factors affect the accident statistics, and equally important, the ensuing fatalities?

Here are just a few of the significant changes.

• Improvement in road design, layout and construction. Potholes and lousy repairs notwithstanding, the standard of roads has and is improving. This is with particular regard to the surface and the layout. Visibility at junctions and hazards has been improved and while the increasingly heavy traffic is degrading the installed surfacing with increasing rapidity, the skid resistance, etc. has improved.
• Vehicle design is probably the most important factor in improving safety, although here there are some minuses as well as pluses.
  • Crumple zones and safety cells have improved survival rates for vehicle occupants and for others involved in collisions.
  • Airbags and seatbelts have also contributed greatly.
  • Driver vision fields have improved enormously, although there have been two setbacks.
    • Safety requirements demand that the windscreen support pillars are sturdier, therefore larger, therefore interfering slightly with forward vision.
    • Safety has also required the removal of wing mirrors. These have been moved to door mirrors. This means the driver’s glance must deviate further from the windscreen field of view to see the side rear-view mirror.
  • ABS and Traction Control have also contributed enormously to safety, although, again, there has been a downside. With improved skid-resistance built into newer vehicles, it is possible that drivers are no longer well-prepared for skids or slides which are outside the limit of these systems. I feel that these systems reach their limits, effectively, without warning, whereas older vehicles had more “feel” of upcoming slides and so drivers would be more prepared. Unfortunately, as any competition driver knows, skid and slide control require constant practice. Not something overly popular on public roads.
  • Driver comfort should have been a major positive influence, but it has now reached a level that induces feelings of invulnerability and complacency which must now be considered a major contributor to accidents. In-car entertainment systems, both audio and increasingly video, are a distraction instead of an aid to comfort. The dreaded mobile phone is of course a major concern and distraction as is satnav that requires re-setting, etc. en route. Climate control systems can induce drowsiness and euphoria and altogether the in-car environment is almost designed to disguise the fact that the driver is piloting a weapon with more destructive power than quite a few military munitions.
• Despite its undoubted downside, the mobile phone is probably a major factor in accident survival rate improvements. Everybody has one. Today, an accident can be notified to the emergency services in seconds, sometimes even while a pile up is still happening, whereas in the past, it involved the long search for a nearby phone, sometimes miles away.
• And last, but definitely major. The improvements in the emergency services, in their equipment and above all, in the training and capabilities of their crews. In the past, an ambulance was crewed by a driver and mate whose main job was to ferry the pieces of meat to the nearest hospital for medical attention. Thie is without any disrespect for those who did this work. I am sure they would have loved to have the training and expertise now available to modern paramedics. Today, a paramedic has training, equipment and real-time access to full medical support that would surpass what used to be available in even a well-equipped hospital. Fire service crews now have training and equipment far outstripping what used to be available. And for all emergency services, communications equipment, satnav and more give a much faster response capability than before.

Compared to these, speed limits, while useful, come way down the list. Their enforcement using cameras and radar is just a revenue generating exercise. If speed cameras were the deterrent they were bigged  up to be, then they would not generate more than ten pounds a year. If they worked, nobody would exceed the speed limit, no fines, no cash.

Red lights on the roads mean STOP.

Increasingly, it seems to me, they are regarded as optional, to be weighed against the arrogance and self-importance of the driver. Traffic is heavy, I’m late, so it doesn’t matter if I cruise through a red light. What harm can it do? I’m important and I haven’t died yet, so it must be OK.

Amber lights on the roads mean STOP (unless to do so would cause an accident). The amber light is to warn drivers that a red light is imminent, therefore slow down, brake. It does NOT mean put yer foot down and career through the lights as fast as you can and if they turn red, whatever.

If the technology and equipment devoted to speed cameras were applied to each and every traffic light, that would make a very large difference to accident rates. If, and only if, the sanction was an automatic driving ban. Not points on your licence. A ban.

This is not just about law enforcement, although that is a big factor. Observing the laws and rules of traffic is the major contributor to road safety. The rules and laws are formulated to allow traffic to circulate in safety, not to annoy and delay important, or self-important people.

This is about Conditioned Reflexes. An Amber Light means that a red light will appear very soon. It should be phased to allow a driver going at a legal speed to stop, possibly quite quickly, before the red light. If drivers learn that the automatic response to an amber light is hard braking, plus looking to see if it is safe to brake that hard, it will become a learned response to a possible emergency.

The red light cruisers do not do this. They, whether they realise it or not, take time to assess whether or not to apply the brakes. They do not learn the instantaneous reflex to go to the brake pedal and then decide whether to stop. When the kid chases the football in front of them, they still have that decision stage ahead of the brake reflex. It’s the wrong way round. Result: squashed kid. Difficult to clean off your nice new SUV.