\n<\/p>\n
Sally Kyd\u2019s article (Too many drivers see road safety rules as a personal affront. It\u2019s time to tighten up UK laws, 6 April) rightly highlights the alarming inadequacy of our current legal framework regarding driving offences. The ambiguity between \u201cdangerous\u201d and \u201ccareless\u201d driving not only undermines public confidence, but insults the victims of road violence, as seen in the heartbreaking cases of Mayar Yahia and the Lincoln teenagers. Kyd is absolutely correct: relying on the abstract, subjective standard of a \u201ccompetent and careful driver\u201d is\u00a0failing us, especially as road policing diminishes and driving standards visibly decline.<\/p>\n
However, while redefining offences and restoring road policing are crucial steps, they largely address the symptoms of poor driving after the fact. To truly transform road safety and reframe driving as a lifelong responsibility, we must proactively mandate enforced, ongoing regulation. Currently, a motorist can pass a test at 17 and never face another assessment, despite decades of changes in vehicle technology, traffic density, and the Highway Code itself. This is illogical and unsafe. We urgently need a system of mandatory periodic retesting to ensure skills do not degrade into the dangerous complacency that Kyd describes.<\/p>\n
Furthermore, the baseline for passing a driving test should not be the ceiling. We must enforce compliance with advanced driving standards, such as those championed by the Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents. Requiring drivers to undertake periodic training or refresher courses linked to licence renewal would systematically instil the proactive, hazard-aware mindset needed to navigate modern roads\u00a0safely.<\/p>\n
Only by combining clearer legal definitions and robust policing with\u00a0mandatory, ongoing retesting and adherence to advanced standards can we finally end the culture of entitlement on our roads\u00a0and prevent further avoidable tragedies. The figure of 1,602 deaths on British roads in 2024, cited in your article, should be a national scandal. If that many people died annually from any other preventable cause, it would spark a public inquiry. Instead, these deaths are treated as an inevitable cost of doing business in a modern transport system.<\/p>\n Your article highlights the inconsistency in how driving offences are charged, but the deeper issue is our systemic failure to prevent these tragedies. We know that speeding and mobile phone use are rampant, and we know that roads\u2019 policing has been hollowed out. To allow these behaviours to continue with limited consequence is not an oversight \u2013 it is a policy choice.<\/p>\n This indifference is baked into our infrastructure. We continue to design our towns and cities for vehicle flow, prioritising the speed of cars over the lives of pedestrians and cyclists. Even our safety advice shifts the burden to vulnerable people; we are told that if we cannot see a lorry driver, they cannot see us. This ignores the fact that the technology to eliminate these blind spots exists today.<\/p>\n If we possess the tools to save lives and refuse to use them, we have moved beyond \u201caccidents\u201d. We have simply normalised a level of carnage that should be unthinkable. Until we stop treating\u00a0road deaths as an unavoidable byproduct of travel, nothing will change. In the UK, when someone is killed without intention, the perpetrator is normally charged with manslaughter. Sally Kyd is right to point out the anomaly relating to road deaths. Rather than arguing over the difference between \u201ccareless\u201d and \u201cdangerous\u201d, a potential manslaughter charge should give most drivers second thoughts about using mobile phones and other distractions. One hopes \u2013 but doubts \u2013 that the justice system will listen to Sally Kyd and administer far more severe punishments to car drivers who kill someone. It\u2019s bizarre that someone who kills by plunging a six-inch blade into a victim can be jailed for years, but someone who kills using two tonnes of steel on wheels often gets away with admonishment and points on their licence. When we talk about road deaths, we often focus on sentencing after the fact. But for many families the dreaded question is: could this have been prevented? In 2024, 1,602 people were killed on UK roads, yet only a small proportion of cases resulted in prosecution. That gap between harm and accountability is infuriating for so many.<\/p>\n But communities don\u2019t have to wait for legal reform to act. Across the UK, members of the public are already playing a role through initiatives such as <\/em>Community Speedwatch, working in partnership with the police to raise awareness and reduce speeding before it causes harm.<\/p>\n I coordinate a small Community Speedwatch group in a rural village. There are four of us, plus the help of my two children (one of whom is an avid car enthusiast and knows his makes and models, which is very useful). I started the group because I had noticed how the speed limit and driver etiquette in my village didn\u2019t seem to meet local need. We have a long, straight stretch through the village where, as a pedestrian, you regularly get those moments \u2013 a vehicle that you hear before you see passing at speed just feet from the pavement edge. And for that split second you genuinely fear for your family\u2019s life. Roadkill is common, and families opt for the car rather than walk or cycle because it hasn\u2019t felt safe enough.<\/p>\n We\u2019ve been monitoring speeds for over a year now. We meet once a week and record numberplates for up to an hour, passing that data on to the police. And what we\u2019ve seen is simple but powerful: only about 5% of drivers we record go on to reoffend. Most people do slow down once they\u2019re made aware. And that\u2019s the key \u2013 this isn\u2019t about punishment, it\u2019s about visibility and accountability.<\/p>\n Stronger laws absolutely matter. But so does culture, and that\u2019s something all of us can influence. There\u2019s real power in communities being willing to step forward and say: this matters. Have an opinion on anything you\u2019ve read in the Guardian today? Please <\/em><\/strong>email<\/em><\/strong> us your letter and it will be considered for publication in our <\/em><\/strong>letters<\/em><\/strong> section.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Sally Kyd\u2019s article (Too many drivers see road safety rules as a personal affront. It\u2019s time to tighten up UK laws, 6 April) rightly highlights the alarming inadequacy of our current legal framework regarding driving offences. The ambiguity between \u201cdangerous\u201d and \u201ccareless\u201d driving not only undermines public confidence, but insults the victims of road violence,<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":48160,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[56],"tags":[841,976,7197,1377,3041,253,415],"class_list":{"0":"post-48159","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-crime-justice","8":"tag-britains","9":"tag-killer","10":"tag-motorists","11":"tag-road","12":"tag-roads","13":"tag-safety","14":"tag-stop"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/48159","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=48159"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/48159\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/48160"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=48159"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=48159"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=48159"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
Guy Edmondson<\/strong>
Hipperholme, West Yorkshire<\/em><\/p>\n
Mark Scott<\/strong>
Basingstoke, Hampshire<\/em><\/p>\n
Prof Lewis Lesley<\/strong>
Liverpool <\/em><\/p>\n
Norman Miller<\/strong>
Brighton, East Sussex<\/em><\/p>\n
Lucinda Brocklehurst <\/strong>
Eastington, Gloucestershire<\/em><\/p>\n