Britain's government is stagnating gains in road safety

Something that's always interesting for me to follow are the continuing developments in road safety policy in Britain. When I first put pedal to the metal here over three years ago, it always struck me how sensible people's approach to driving was. The standard of education seemed quite high. But what is also fascinating (and disturbing) is the speed with which these standards of consideration and personal responsibility seem to be falling, due in large part to punitive, automated road safety initiatives. As the government's emphasis on road safety shifts from using proper care, judgement and consideration to merely making sure we don't exceed a posted speed limit, people's definition of what constitutes safe driving is being altered to reflect this new minimum standard.

The result? With falling numbers of real traffic police patroling the roads, and a rising numbers of speed cameras, the idea that 'as long as I'm not speeding, anything else goes' is becoming more and more prevalent. Actions that can't be easily caught by stationay, automated cameras, such as tailgating, poor lane discipline and inconsiderate road use are now going unnoticed and unpunished. Since it's carelessness and poor judgement that directly contributes to more than nine out of ten accidents, it's ridiculous that roads safety policy should mainly be geared toward trying to enforce speed limits at arbitrary locations. Some interesting and thoroughly-researched info on this topic can be found here.