In defence of drivers

Historically those who injure, maim and kill have expected to find themselves punished, and severely at that. What is about drivers and driving that those who voluntarily place themselves behind the wheel and in charge of a machine that is a lethal weapon think that:

• they can eat and keep that lethal weapon fully under control
  
• they can drink and keep that lethal weapon fully under control
  
• they can put their make-up on and keep that lethal weapon fully under control
  
• they can twiddle with a radio/cassette/CD player and keep that lethal weapon fully under control
  
• they can read a map and keep that lethal weapon fully under control
  
• they can read a newspaper/book/magazine and keep that lethal weapon fully under control
  
• they can listen to an iPod/CD/Cassette etc player and keep that lethal weapon fully under control
  
• they can twiddle with the SatNav and keep that lethal weapon fully under control
  
• they can get dressed/undressed and keep that lethal weapon fully under control
  
• they can text/phone and keep that lethal weapon under control

Never mind introducing stricter penalties for those who injure, maim and kill. Seriously we should introduce psych testing before issuing driving licences. There are some people who genuinely believe that they can perform an exotic combination of two or more of the above non--driving actions simultaneously while controlling their late modal lethal weapon.

Driving is difficult, with practice it becomes easy like everything else, sometimes to the point where in normal circumstances it becomes almost instinctive.

But it is still the case that a momentary lapse in concentration can end in catastrophe and not always for the driver. In the past couple of years a young mother with three children at the local primary school lost when a mother who wasn't looking carefully enough reversed her great big vehicle into the woman, trapping her against the car behind and crushing one leg. Everyone with a child at the school knows this story. Everyone sees her each morning and afternoon, struggling to get her children into school on one leg and a prosthesis.

We all see the stories of deaths and injury on the roads, experienced the frustration of being trapped in the aftermath of a serious accident, creeping past a mangled vehicle with a blanket strategically draped over the windscreen.

Everyone knows how dangerous cars can be. Is it too much to ask people to take care and concentrate on the task in hand? The answer to this question is apparently yes. Will people behave more responsibly if the consequence is a slap on the wrist. The answer is obviously no, or people would have abandoned driving with a mobile phone planted to one ear.

It is time to send out a message to all drivers that they are to be held fully accountable for their irresponsibility. Killing someone is killing someone. It is indefensible that in this day and age a person can take the life of another and not suffer a heavy penalty. Most drivers, it seems, need a reality check.