A lack of scientific understanding is killing innocent people on our roads, says the car review website dogandlemon.com.
Editor Clive Matthew-Wilson, who is an active road safety campaigner, says:
“The so-called experts keep asking motorists to drive safely and the police keep issuing thousands of speeding tickets. These are the failed policies of the past, because the people most likely to cause accidents are the least likely to care about road safety messages or traffic tickets.”
“While the government continues to attempt to lower the road toll by changing driver behaviour, 30 years of studies show that this strategy simply doesn’t work.”
“The government is also largely ignoring science that says the vast majority of road accidents are preventable with technology. For example, a study by Monash University of the effectiveness of roadside fencing and median barriers concluded that: “reductions of up to 90% in death and serious injury can be achieved, with no evidence of increased road trauma for motorcyclists.”
Matthew-Wilson adds:
“Road deaths have been gradually falling since the late 1980s. If you want to know why the road toll fluctuates from year to year, the most likely explanation is the economy. Multiple studies have shown that the road toll falls during recessions and rises during economic good times. It sounds crazy, but it’s true.”
“If we want the road toll to fall quicker, then we have to drop the failed policies, and start making sure our roads and cars protect all road users, including pedestrians and cyclists. Sweden adopted this approach, and now has the lowest road toll in the world.”
