Safety drive

All users of the road should be as concerned as Alastair Dalton (Inside Transport, 15 May) that too many people are being killed on the roads, but we are concentrating in the wrong areas.

The Scottish Government was wrong to lower the drink-driving limit without adjusting the penalty accordingly; that would have brought us into line with Europe.

Drink-driving levels have vastly reduced over the past 35 years yet it is still treated as if it is still the primary killer on the roads. The consequence is that sleep-driving is virtually ignored as if driving with your eyes closed is something that could not be helped. If someone works all day and then tries to drive all night it is predictable that they will fall asleep at the wheel; about one in five crashes on long journeys are attributed to sleep-driving.

Road safety not only has a low profile, it is treated as entertainment on television. Sky 1 is the latest to continue the hackneyed formula with its Driving School of Mum and Dad.

“Continuous professional development” is embraced by professional people but these same people when they pass the driving test see no reason to obtain further knowledge.

Any lessons learned from road accidents are not fed back into the driving population. Contrast this with recent air crashes, where the data boxes were urgently looked for so lessons learned from them could be feed back into the aero industry and pilot training.

At present, drivers are used to, but resent, the top-down system that punishes them as if they are naughty children rather than as adults who could be receptive to further education.

STANLEY McWHIRTER

Balcarres Street

Edinburgh