The Road Toll

Press, Volume CV, Issue 30956, 12 January 1966, Page 10

The Road Toll

Sir, —Having a strong suspicion that “Leave Well Alone” was trying to be ironical, I allowed myself to be “ignominiously caught out” (vide “Ham”) in order to get a clear statement from your correspondent. One very important factor in reducing the road toll is the building up of a “mores” that careless behaviour on the roads is socially unacceptable. We must make the culprits feel bad about what they do. Neither irony nor anonymity will achieve this, but only the courage of our convictions publicly expressed.—Yours, etc., (Rev.) LESLIE M. RAWLINGS. January 11, 1966. Sir, —It would be interesting to observe the results of a trial period of 20 m.p.h. maximum speed limit within city limits.—Yours, etc., M. G. STROUD. January 10, 1966. Sir, —May I draw attention to the bad intersection at the corner of Edgeware road and Madras street. There have been three or four smashes at this corner in the last few months, and if something is not done there will be more. There is a “Slow” sign there, but this could be changed to a “Stop” sign—otherwise there will be more smashes. —Yours, etc., READER. January 11, 1966.

Sir, —After reading the article of the Commissioner of Transport (“Auto Gossip,” January 7) I am convinced that no serious or practical effort to deal with the road toll is going to be made. We are being conditioned cynically to acceptance of 560 road deaths for the year as normal, and we must not be upset or become “emotional” if the total for 1966 exceeds 600. I will grant that traffic inspectors are efficient and do what they can, but for all that, they are a drop in the ocean; in my 47 years of driving I have never seen such irresponsibility on the roads as I see today. The problem is drastic, and drastic methods are needed to meet it. The present tactics of the Transport Department are merely “play way” methods that barely scratch the surface of the problem. We have already got off to a flying start for the “road toll championship” for this year.—Yours, etc., QUERCUS. January 10, 1966.