Pressure groups disagree

The contrast of words from two of the UK's most vocal driver-behaviour pressure groups continues this week with, as usual, diametrically opposed views on how government should control drivers' freedoms. Brake's latest onslaught against the road-safety menace that lurks around every turn concerns the pressure on those who drive for their job to go quickly. Its research suggests that 61 per cent of 'at work' drivers leave less than a two-second gap between themselves and the car in front, compared with 40 per cent of other drivers. And 74 per cent of at-workers drive at 80mph or more on motorways, compared with 49 per cent of others. Because of this, Brake is once again calling for the Department for Transport to publish its research into satellite-controlled automatic speed limiters (known, officially and with Orwellian doublethink, as Intelligent Speed Adaptaion) and, if the results are 'successful', to 'roll out' the system to all vehicles. Brake also wants the fixed penalty for exceeding a speed limit to rise to six points with a £1000 fine, while bringing all driving it considers unsafe to be treated as 'dangerous' driving (rather than merely careless) under the law. Companies whose employees consider themselves under pressure to get somewhere quickly could also be sued under new corporate manslaughter laws if the employee is involved in a fatal accident, a development welcomed by Brake. Naturally, Brake as ever is making the assumption that exceeding a posted limit is always dangerous, and basing its 'tailgating' accusations over stopping distances on the ludicrously outdated figures given in the Highway Code, distances far greater than needed by any modern car. Brake will not be happy until anyone who dares enjoy driving is metaphorically clubbed to a pulp, even though the charity's original aims – support for those bereaved by a road death and a mission to instil a sense of responsibility among drivers – are laudable. Compare this with the latest missive from the Association of British Drivers. Commenting on the latest official campaaign against driving while tired, or 'driving tired' as the matrix motorway signs would have it, spokesman Nigel Humphries has this to say: 'For decades the government has been delaying investment in schemes to improve the flow of traffic, encouraging local authorities to obstruct traffic flow, ratcheting down speed limits, imposing speed limiters on trucks and closing roads for overly long periods to investigate accidents. This inevitably causes stress and tiredness amongst drivers. 'Drivers travelling in free-flowing traffic, setting their speeds to the conditions, are likely to remain far more alert than those crawling along in jams or becoming automatons while adhering to a speed limit set far lower than is necessary.' See, drivers are sentient human beings. Take away the stress-building obstructions and inappropriate limits, and maybe they wouldn't tailgate after all.