Subindex

In today's Telegraph you publish two provocative reports on "death through dangerous driving", which leave the reader feeling extremely ill-disposed towards the "wicked" offender ("Death crash driver more worried about car" and "Deputy head 'killed by speeding car'").

Taking out our rage on the more "unlucky" than "wicked" drivers, who are unfortunate enough to maim or kill someone, is not just; neither is it a way of reducing the number of deaths on our roads. On the contrary, it distracts us from facing up to the real cause of the problem: society's double standards towards dangerous driving, considering it to be no more than a cavalier's offence - until someone is killed, and only then being outraged.

Every day tens of thousands of motorists are guilty of dangerous driving - mainly by speeding - but are fortunate enough to get away with it. Even if they are caught by the police, all they get is a rap over the fingers.

It is not just putting someone in prison for several years simply because he has been "unlucky" (like his victim), or in order to satisfy a bereaved family's desire for retribution. Neither does it act as a
deterrent to other drivers.

Severely punishing the offender after the event makes no sense at all. The damage has been done. Out of one tragedy we simply make two.

Every dangerous or speeding driver is responsible for the deaths and serious injuries that occur on our roads. They are the ones we need to clamp down on - before they kill or maim someone.

That would not only be more just, it would also be far more effective in reducing the number of deaths and serious injuries on our roads.

Neither should it be necessary to send offenders to prison. They need only be banned from driving for an appropriate period of time.

All that is necessary is for us to stand up to those irrational motorists, who consider speed limit enforcement an infringement of their personal liberty, and to demand a policy of  "zero tolerance" towards anyone who speeds or drives dangerously - even when at the moment, from time to time, that is probably most of us.