Another A595 tragedy
On Friday, for the second time in a few weeks, there was a fatal accident on the A595 near my home. It seems that every week we hear of yet more death on Cumbria's roads. The butcher's bill so far this year is 41 human lives.
Because there is such a lot of nonsense applied in the name of health and safety, and because some politicians and officials are too quick to take every opportunity to bash the motorist, you have to be very careful how you discuss road safety. It is far too easy to sound like a car-hating killjoy.
And anyone who is himself or herself a driver who says anything meaningful about road safety takes a huge risk of appearing to be a hypocrite. Show me any regular driver who claims that they have never driven too fast or made a potentially dangerous mistake when behind the wheel of a car, and I'll show you a liar.
But I think that all of us who drive regularly on Cumbria's roads, particularly those like the A595 on which death or serious injury are a depressingly regular occurence, should stop and think about how we drive. Especially about how fast we drive, whether we allow any distractions while driving that we should avoid, and how readily we try to overtake the vehicle in front. We should all think about whether there are changes we should make in our driving style which might reduce the risk that one day our loved ones will hear that we are never coming home. Or what is almost worse, that we might have to live the rest of our lives with the knowledge that we made a mistake which killed someone.
I believe that all speed cameras should be clearly visible, that they should be marked with or sited very near to a sign showing the applicable speed limit, and that they should only be sited where there is an road accident record or good reason to believe that there is danger of serious accidents.
The object should be to save lives, not raise revenue - the most successful speed camera does not catch a single motorist because it changes behaviour. But provided they meet those criteria, maybe we need more cameras. In my old council ward in Sandridge, there was a spontaneous local demonstration calling for speed cameras after a fatal accident.
And the government should reconsider their recent decision to downgrade the A595 south of Calder Bridge. If de-trunking this stretch of road means that it takes longer to get road improvements, there is too great a chance that the consequence will be more wasted lives.
Because there is such a lot of nonsense applied in the name of health and safety, and because some politicians and officials are too quick to take every opportunity to bash the motorist, you have to be very careful how you discuss road safety. It is far too easy to sound like a car-hating killjoy.
And anyone who is himself or herself a driver who says anything meaningful about road safety takes a huge risk of appearing to be a hypocrite. Show me any regular driver who claims that they have never driven too fast or made a potentially dangerous mistake when behind the wheel of a car, and I'll show you a liar.
But I think that all of us who drive regularly on Cumbria's roads, particularly those like the A595 on which death or serious injury are a depressingly regular occurence, should stop and think about how we drive. Especially about how fast we drive, whether we allow any distractions while driving that we should avoid, and how readily we try to overtake the vehicle in front. We should all think about whether there are changes we should make in our driving style which might reduce the risk that one day our loved ones will hear that we are never coming home. Or what is almost worse, that we might have to live the rest of our lives with the knowledge that we made a mistake which killed someone.
I believe that all speed cameras should be clearly visible, that they should be marked with or sited very near to a sign showing the applicable speed limit, and that they should only be sited where there is an road accident record or good reason to believe that there is danger of serious accidents.
The object should be to save lives, not raise revenue - the most successful speed camera does not catch a single motorist because it changes behaviour. But provided they meet those criteria, maybe we need more cameras. In my old council ward in Sandridge, there was a spontaneous local demonstration calling for speed cameras after a fatal accident.
And the government should reconsider their recent decision to downgrade the A595 south of Calder Bridge. If de-trunking this stretch of road means that it takes longer to get road improvements, there is too great a chance that the consequence will be more wasted lives.
Comments