Accidents are setfinflicted wounds
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WHEN IS a road accident not an accident? When it is the result of negligence or folly, which, according to an abrasive Nick Ross in a BBC television programme, is usually the case. For 55 gory minutes he laid about all and sundry with a big stick.
First he attacked Parliament, which, like motor manufacturers, had, he said, the knowledge to prevent much of the slaughter on the roads, but not the will to use it. While MPs prated about the subject's right to maim or kill himself or herself at the public expense, the Government vacillated over rear-seat belts, which would prevent unrestrained rear-seat passengers from killing belted front-seat passengers as well as themselves.
Car manufacturers, with the notable exception of Volvo, and motorcycle traders, with Parliament's connivance, were accused of having a vested interest in danger.
Car drivers and motorcyclists were generally portrayed as on the criminal fringe. "If you can keep your head on your shoulders when all about you are losing theirs," I said to myself, "you must be some kind of freak."
Only Conoco and its tanker drivers, who are put through an advanced driving test with marked financial benefits to the company, emerged with much credit. There was no reference to the great work done for the past 30 years by Commercial Motor Lorry Driver of the Year Competition to raise safety standards.
It was admitted that traffic engineering, as practised in Hertfordshire, could reduce accidents at low cost. This was almost the only encouraging note in nearly an hour of mayhem, with corpses being quietly "filed" in mortuary cabinets after horrific ends. Having passed the critical age of 44 I consoled myself with the knowledge that I was less likely to die in a road accident than from some other cause.