:00:16. > :00:24.Last year a number of people killed on Britain's road went up for the
:00:24. > :00:31.first time in years. 1900 people died on them. That is more than
:00:31. > :00:36.four jumbo jets full of people.. 23 packed double decker buses.
:00:36. > :00:41.172 football teams. And over 23,000 were seriously injured. That is
:00:41. > :00:46.enough seriously injured people to fill the jolve cricket ground
:00:46. > :00:52.total injured is more than the entire population of Luton. Is this
:00:52. > :00:58.number of casualties acceptable? What can be done to reduce it?
:00:58. > :01:03.are driving across the country. Driving on motorways. A-roads
:01:03. > :01:08.streets And rural high ways. meet safety experts traffic police
:01:08. > :01:12.and the survives of collisions and they all agree. We take the biggest
:01:12. > :01:16.risk of our lives, every time we get behind the wheel of our cars.
:01:16. > :01:22.was thinking we are going to go under the Iceland truck, that is
:01:22. > :01:26.it: We are gone. Why do we have so many accidents and how can we avoid
:01:26. > :01:30.them? We would close the railway network if we had the number of
:01:30. > :01:37.deaths that just occur on this road in five years. We will be showing
:01:37. > :01:42.the simple changes that could transform the safety of our streets.
:01:42. > :01:46.If was traffic signals I don't think I would be here. And the
:01:46. > :01:56.innovations that experts say will mean nobody will die on Britain's
:01:56. > :02:00.
:02:00. > :02:08.My name is Justin Rowlatt. I have a trustty seven-year-old people
:02:09. > :02:14.carrier that has seen better days. I am Anita Rani and this is my type
:02:14. > :02:18.of car. A nippy run around. I absolutely love driving. I was one
:02:19. > :02:23.of those people who couldn't wait to pass my test. For me, driving
:02:23. > :02:27.meant independence. My wife would probably say I am not a very good
:02:27. > :02:31.driver. In a stream of traffic, and I just accidentally went into the
:02:31. > :02:38.back of the car in front. Not going at a massive speed, but the air
:02:38. > :02:44.bags went off and I had the baby in the back. Anita, how are you doing?
:02:44. > :02:49.Mine has this black box, I am not happy about it. I have no idea
:02:49. > :02:53.where it it is Fist off is the answer a spy in the car? New
:02:53. > :02:58.surveillance technology that monitors a driver's every move.
:02:58. > :03:02.Hidden behind the glove compartment of my car is a state-of-the-art box.
:03:02. > :03:07.It logs any mistake I make, a sharp turn, speeding, anything, and it
:03:07. > :03:12.records the lot on line. Insurance companies love it because it helps
:03:12. > :03:19.judge how dangerous we really are. Take a look at what I have got.
:03:19. > :03:24.What? I can't with worse than mine This does everything yours does but
:03:24. > :03:28.it son camera. I have drive cam. One camera pointing at the road and
:03:28. > :03:34.another at me. It is filming the whole time, but if I do something
:03:34. > :03:37.wrong, it send film of the event to a web page, so you can see
:03:37. > :03:41.incidents unfold. I don't think I am the best driver in the world.
:03:41. > :03:44.Maybe that, they will catch me doing something embarrassing.
:03:44. > :03:48.Hopefully I will learn from the experience and be a better driver
:03:48. > :03:54.as a result. The latest Government figures show road deaths are rising
:03:54. > :03:58.for the first time in years. But why? I am going to be seeing for
:03:58. > :04:05.myself the consequences of crashes, and learning some simple tricks
:04:05. > :04:10.that could help you avoid them. want to know what are the most
:04:10. > :04:15.common causes of collisions? I will find out when, where and usually ou
:04:15. > :04:20.they happen. We are going to look at the three major types of road.
:04:20. > :04:29.Motorway, A roads and urban streets. We want to understand how roads and
:04:29. > :04:34.cars can be made safer, and reduce deaths. Let us start with the
:04:34. > :04:41.motorways. There are 2218 miles of motorway in Britain and we use them
:04:41. > :04:47.a lot. We do 170 million miles a day on them thrai. The lifeline of
:04:47. > :04:50.our economy but they are also the scene of hur biggest crashes..
:04:50. > :04:55.on patrol with the Essex Traffic Police this one of their unmarked
:04:55. > :05:01.vehicles. What causes the most accidents on motorways? People
:05:01. > :05:06.driving too close, not paying attention, someone brakes far ahead,
:05:06. > :05:12.especially in traffic, and someone fails to react and you get the
:05:12. > :05:17.concertina effect. You look that the lorry. Look how close it S he
:05:17. > :05:23.has indicated. He gave me no choice, I was going to have toe slow. The
:05:23. > :05:26.truck has a big mirror. He is not having a good day. He got off
:05:26. > :05:35.lightly. But as we just saw, when vehicles change lane, they will
:05:35. > :05:40.often move into tighter gap, which cuts safe braking distances.
:05:40. > :05:46.Travelling down the A12 trunk road, we soon spot another tailgateer.
:05:46. > :05:51.Just see up ahead, there is a gar braking. He came past at quite a
:05:51. > :05:57.bit of speed, you will see how close he gets to the van in close.
:05:57. > :06:03.Is he too close? He is a car-and-a- half's length. There, that is what
:06:03. > :06:11.we do not want to say. He goes for the undertake. We are going to be
:06:11. > :06:17.pulling one at the lay-by, black BW. He is not happy. You overtook me
:06:17. > :06:21.and two other cars, caused the car to brake, you got behind that van
:06:21. > :06:26.and you were braking, what nearly happened to you, you nearly crashed
:06:26. > :06:31.into someone. Were you aware there was a slip road? I take your point.
:06:31. > :06:36.Sorry. Take care. The leaf on his face when he realised you weren't
:06:36. > :06:41.going to give him a ticket. didn't have a dent in his car.
:06:41. > :06:45.is lucky. I am also out with the lis, but in South Yorkshire, with
:06:45. > :06:50.more than 100 accident tons motorway, I want to see for myself,
:06:50. > :06:55.how the emergency services respond to traffic incidents. We have had a
:06:55. > :06:58.call saying there has been a road traffic accident somewhere up the
:06:58. > :07:02.motorway. Apparently a vehicle has turned over. It is blocking at
:07:02. > :07:08.least one of the carriageways because we have a massive tail back.
:07:08. > :07:14.This is what happened. The trailer started to swing out of control. It
:07:14. > :07:18.jack-knifed and it and the Land Rover towing it rolled over. I
:07:18. > :07:21.could see how vital the hard shoulder is to the emergency
:07:21. > :07:26.services. This is the first time I have been on a motorway just after
:07:26. > :07:28.an accident has happened. We are lucky. This accident, no-one was
:07:28. > :07:33.hurt. I shows why it is so important to keep your distance
:07:33. > :07:43.from the car in front. If a car or lorry had been close behind this
:07:43. > :07:46.trailer, the driver would probably not be talking to me now. Three on
:07:46. > :07:50.thes. Three on thes? Three on thes of trailer turned over in the
:07:50. > :07:54.middle of the carriageway, the Land Rover turned over behind it and the
:07:54. > :08:02.miracle is nobody hit it. Had another car hit it, goodness knows,
:08:02. > :08:07.we would probably be talking about fatalities here. It is incredible.
:08:07. > :08:11.This accident happened about 25 minutes ago. Already, you know you
:08:11. > :08:14.would hardly know it happened. First traffic started moving on the
:08:15. > :08:24.motorway, they reckon it will be open in five minutes. All cleared
:08:24. > :08:30.up: -- cleared up. Last year 106 people were kill and 740 seriously
:08:30. > :08:36.injured on our motorways. The worst accidents, the ones that hit the
:08:36. > :08:41.headlines are the pile ups. Travelling at speed, when a car
:08:41. > :08:48.develops a problem, and suddenly swerves, stops or slows down,
:08:48. > :08:55.vehicles behind can't react in time, and they crash. With heavy traffic,
:08:55. > :09:03.more cars are forced into braking and skidding across lanes. That
:09:03. > :09:07.sparks knock on accidents further down the motorway. The pile ups are
:09:07. > :09:11.more likely in poor visibility. Snow, ice, rain and fog, they
:09:11. > :09:15.impair your view, gives you less traction on the road and can
:09:15. > :09:23.ultimately be lethal. A number of people have died and dozens injured
:09:23. > :09:29.in a crash on the M5 in Somerset. One of the worst pile ups in
:09:30. > :09:36.British history happened on the M5 last year. Seven people died, 51
:09:36. > :09:40.were injured. The exact causes of the crash are still unclear, but
:09:40. > :09:45.there was fog on that stretch of the road, and it is alleged smoke
:09:45. > :09:49.drifting from a firework display made visibility even worse. The
:09:49. > :09:56.organiser of the display now faces seven charges of manslaughter.
:09:56. > :10:02.Roger and his wife were in the centre of the devastation but they
:10:02. > :10:09.escaped unhurt. What happened that night. We joined the slip road and
:10:10. > :10:19.within seconds, moved into the middle lane, behind the Iceland
:10:20. > :10:20.
:10:20. > :10:24.truck. It just disappeared into a tunnel of fog. It was gone. It was
:10:24. > :10:30.fog thicker than I have ever seen. It was like someone put a blanket
:10:30. > :10:36.over it. All the bleak lites came on the lorry. We braked sharply and
:10:36. > :10:42.we stopped with ten feet to spare behind the lorry. Instantly there
:10:42. > :10:46.were bangs and crashes from all round and behind us. So you knew
:10:46. > :10:50.that car after car was crashing. thought we were going to get hit
:10:50. > :10:57.straight away. I was thinking we are going to go under the Iceland
:10:57. > :11:03.truck, that is it, we are gone. were waiting to be hit. A lorry
:11:03. > :11:10.jack-knife behind us. Protected us. Behind us was a ring of mangled
:11:10. > :11:20.cars that had been swept up by the lorly there was woman trapped under
:11:20. > :11:20.
:11:20. > :11:24.the car, the car was pinned by a lorry, which haunted me for months.
:11:24. > :11:31.We are very lucky. One or both of us could have died that night, but
:11:31. > :11:37.we didn't. One question the crash raises, is whether the road itself
:11:38. > :11:41.could have been safer. After all, fog has contributed to lots of
:11:41. > :11:46.other accidents. The investigation started after last December's pile
:11:46. > :11:49.up on the M25. Nine people died when cars travelling in thick fog
:11:49. > :11:55.collided. The Department of Transport are planning to install a
:11:55. > :11:59.new type of early warning system. Automatic fog warning systems which
:11:59. > :12:04.detect low visibility have been round for decades. But are still
:12:04. > :12:09.not installed on many fog prone stretchs of motorways. On the M5,
:12:09. > :12:12.the warnings have to be manually act vit vaited. They weren't that
:12:12. > :12:17.night. -- activated. Warning systems have not been emproved
:12:18. > :12:22.experts say, because of cuts. automated cameras had been in place
:12:22. > :12:27.such as the M5 crash, we may not have seen the loss of life we saw
:12:27. > :12:30.that evening. It would have warned drivers there was a hazard so they
:12:30. > :12:34.are able better to cope with what was happening in front of them. The
:12:34. > :12:38.drive down of the roads budget has had a lot to do with it. We are not
:12:38. > :12:42.only seeing drops in what can be done, but in expertise, so learning
:12:42. > :12:49.from others, and gaining that experience, that tells us what work,
:12:49. > :12:53.so the right measures are in the right places. The highways agency
:12:53. > :12:57.say it about spending money where it has the greatest benefit. They
:12:57. > :13:02.say fog detection and warning systems are sited in locations that
:13:02. > :13:08.experience these conditions on a regular basis. Automation isn't the
:13:09. > :13:16.only way to improve warning systems, and cut casualties. The M42 and M46
:13:16. > :13:20.are the first of a new type of road. -- M6. The managed motorway. With
:13:21. > :13:26.overhead gantries, traffic can be monitored and controlled, using
:13:26. > :13:31.cameras and sign, and an unprecedented way. I am visiting
:13:31. > :13:35.the M42 control centre, to see how it works. So we have a car that has
:13:35. > :13:41.broken down in the middle lane. am setting the signal now. To tell
:13:41. > :13:46.them there is a car broken down.. Yes, a stranding vehicle. As you
:13:46. > :13:53.can see we have the message saying stranded vehicle, I am closing
:13:53. > :13:57.these two lanes. That tells us they are closed. So the policeman has
:13:57. > :14:05.pushed the car out of the way. What are you going to do? What I will do
:14:05. > :14:10.is take off the Red Crosss on here. So they have opened up again. You
:14:10. > :14:14.cannot drive down Exactly. It is as quick has the, that is how fast you
:14:14. > :14:19.can reacts to something? Yes. Managed motor wears designed to
:14:19. > :14:24.tackle congestion, they allow the highways agency to open up the hard
:14:24. > :14:29.shoulder as a temporary extra lane. Which is cheaper than building a
:14:29. > :14:34.new one. By controlling traffic flow they have noticed good side
:14:34. > :14:40.effects. We are seeing incident bus they are less vee, so we get maybe
:14:40. > :14:45.a more rear end shunts but we are not getting the major incidents
:14:45. > :14:55.that can end up in fatalities. We have had none out there on the
:14:55. > :15:01.
:15:01. > :15:09.managed motorway since we brought The plan is to open the hard
:15:09. > :15:12.shoulder, permanently as an extra lane between junctions 31 and 35.
:15:12. > :15:17.Chief Superintendent Keith Lumley of South Yorkshire Police has grave
:15:17. > :15:27.reservations. Many in my view they are not a managed motorway. They
:15:27. > :15:34.
:15:34. > :15:38.are a significant reduction on what With fewer gantries it will be hard
:15:38. > :15:45.tore control speed with no hard shoulder, broken down car woos have
:15:45. > :15:49.to use one of the safe refuges every 2.5 kilometers or simply sit
:15:49. > :15:54.and wait in live lanes of traffic. Stationary vehicles on the motorway
:15:54. > :16:00.are a real hazard, wean a hard shoulder. What we have to bear in
:16:00. > :16:05.mind, there is approximately 2,500 break downs on the M1 that are
:16:05. > :16:10.dealt with by the rescue services. What we are seeing here is a lorry
:16:10. > :16:17.driver. He is weaving from side to side for some reason. I can't
:16:17. > :16:21.understand why. He has gone over the white line on the hard shoulder
:16:21. > :16:26.and has struck one of the emergency response vehicles. The motorway was
:16:26. > :16:30.closed for several hours. worried are you at the plans
:16:30. > :16:34.proposed? So worried that I spoke directly to the Highways Agency to
:16:34. > :16:38.get tomb to reconsider the design and layout. We are working with
:16:38. > :16:43.them to modify it to put in acceptable improvements in the
:16:43. > :16:50.engineering, recognising the need to reduce costs, but also not at
:16:50. > :16:54.the expense of fatal collisions and loss of life. The highway agency
:16:54. > :16:59.say they are confident they can provide the additional capacity
:16:59. > :17:04.without compromising safety. They are working with the South
:17:04. > :17:10.Yorkshire Safer Road Partnership to agree on the operation of the
:17:10. > :17:14.scheme. For the moment, monitoring us and controlling our speed is
:17:14. > :17:18.reducing deaths on the motorways. The Government is thinking about
:17:18. > :17:25.raising the speed limit to 80mph. What impact will that have? I think
:17:25. > :17:31.it's a good idea. At 70, we cruise at 75 anyway. If you take it to 80,
:17:31. > :17:37.we will cruise at 85. Cars are more powerful and safer than they used
:17:37. > :17:43.to be. At that speed, risk of accidents will probably go up.
:17:43. > :17:47.Nearly half of all drivers break the speed limit on motorways. The
:17:47. > :17:56.Government say raising it could bring big economic gains through
:17:56. > :18:01.shorter journey times. Is the speed limit out-of-date? When the first
:18:01. > :18:05.motorway was built in 1959 there were few cars and even fewer safety
:18:05. > :18:09.features. Most cars didn't have seatbelts. People were still
:18:09. > :18:13.adjusting to the new rules of the road.
:18:13. > :18:18.NEWSREEL: If you over shoot the turning point, don't try to do this.
:18:18. > :18:24.Reversing and turning on the motorway is an offence which could
:18:24. > :18:34.cost you �20. In 1965, after a spate of serious accidents, a speed
:18:34. > :18:34.
:18:34. > :18:38.limit was imposed on motorways of 70mph. I'm taking an Austin 1100,
:18:38. > :18:44.the most popular car of the day, for a spin, to see what the speed
:18:44. > :18:53.limit must have meant to drivers in 1965. The idea of travelling at 70,
:18:53. > :18:58.particularly today, when it's wet out, is... I really mean this, is
:18:58. > :19:01.genuinely frightening. We are 60. Let's take her up to 70. It will
:19:01. > :19:07.take a while. This is the kind of car that was around. It's so
:19:07. > :19:13.different from modern cars. If I'm honest, so much worse. You do kind
:19:13. > :19:17.of wonder whether 70mph speed limit is really relevant any more. My
:19:17. > :19:22.people carrier certainly feels as if it could comfortably do more
:19:22. > :19:27.than 70mph and stop a lot more quickly. There are three times more
:19:27. > :19:31.traffic than in 1966. Stop distances are more important than
:19:31. > :19:37.ever. My car is seven years old, the same as the average car on
:19:37. > :19:45.Britain's roads. I want to know what the increase to 80 would mean
:19:45. > :19:50.in an emergency. I've come to a test track. Matthew and Colin are
:19:50. > :19:53.experts in car safety. This was one of the first cars with this latest
:19:53. > :19:59.technology of this electronic brake force distribution and emergency
:19:59. > :20:02.brake assist. This actually is quite a good car. What do you mean
:20:02. > :20:05."actually"? It's not been maintained as as well as it could
:20:05. > :20:10.have been. There can be technology on the car. The only connection
:20:10. > :20:16.between you and the road is the tyre. Your tyres are not the best.
:20:16. > :20:23.There is no tread there. It's verging on the illegal. When did
:20:23. > :20:31.you last test your tyre pressure? Not for a while. Ever. No. Can you
:20:31. > :20:36.tell me what it should be? 312 all round. That is a 17. Your hand book
:20:36. > :20:41.says 36, not 32. I did think it looked soft when I put it in.
:20:41. > :20:48.Joking aside, this is a sobering revelation as badly maintained
:20:48. > :20:53.tyres contributed to the death of 28 people last year. 30.8. 27.7.
:20:53. > :20:57.think what we should do is show you the difference between a vehicle
:20:57. > :21:01.with the latest generation braking technology. You will see the
:21:01. > :21:08.difference there that the technology is making and decent
:21:08. > :21:11.tyres. How does my poorly maintained car compare to a car
:21:11. > :21:15.with state-of-the-art technology and new tyres when driving at high
:21:15. > :21:23.speeds. Colin and I have to get our cars up to 70mph and emergency
:21:23. > :21:33.brake at the same time to test both cars' stopping distances. There we
:21:33. > :21:36.
:21:36. > :21:40.go! Oh! Smells of rubber. That is quite a difference. If I'm stopped
:21:40. > :21:45.on this one you are maybe, one, two, two-and-a-half, three cones further
:21:45. > :21:50.up. Each one of these is five meters? Yes. You are 15 meters
:21:50. > :22:00.further on there. If my average car, with its bad tyres needs a third
:22:00. > :22:08.
:22:08. > :22:13.more distance to stop than the new Actually if I hit something there,
:22:13. > :22:19.that is still a serious accident. I have slowed down enough, but not
:22:19. > :22:23.enough to be safe. In fact, at 80, I would still be going 40mph at the
:22:23. > :22:29.place I stopped at 70. On a busy motorway, this could make the
:22:29. > :22:34.difference between stopping in time and having a fatal collision. I had
:22:34. > :22:39.my tyres sorted shortly afterwards. What do you think about this debate
:22:39. > :22:44.ba speed limits? Should Britain raise from 70mph to 80mph? All the
:22:44. > :22:47.studies we have done around around the world, when you raise the speed
:22:47. > :22:52.limit you raise the killed and seriously injured. We calculated
:22:52. > :22:55.you are likely to see 10% increase in killed and seriously injured.
:22:55. > :23:00.really is as simple a as this. You increase the speed limit, more
:23:00. > :23:05.people will die? Increase the speed limit on any die, more people will
:23:05. > :23:10.be killed and seriously injured. Fact. We have had the latest
:23:10. > :23:14.technology installed in our cars which monitors our driving.
:23:14. > :23:19.Justin's device films him constantly and uploads errattic
:23:19. > :23:26.driving to a web page so it can be evaluated. This will be the first
:23:26. > :23:31.time we get to see the footage. moment of truth. Oh, no! It's all
:23:31. > :23:35.recorded. His drivecam footage will be assessed by ex-police driving
:23:35. > :23:41.instructor, Chris Gilbert. Chris, you are an advanced driving
:23:41. > :23:50.instructor, aren't snu he taught Princes Wills and Harry to drive,
:23:50. > :23:58.you know a thing or two? I'm very privileged. The event trigger was
:23:58. > :24:04.cornering. Can you see that? Quite quick cornering? It is indeed. Far
:24:04. > :24:13.too fast. How fast should he have been going You need to stop in the
:24:13. > :24:17.distance you should see to be clear. You took it at 27. Far too fast.
:24:17. > :24:21.Far too fast. This is quite unforgiving this drivecam thing.
:24:21. > :24:26.What do you think of it? Excellent. This is the first time I have seen.
:24:26. > :24:28.It there is a great deal of value in this for anyone looking back at
:24:29. > :24:31.their errors. If this is highlighted to them and they have
:24:32. > :24:35.an opportunity to look at this, I think the learning curve is quite
:24:35. > :24:42.steep much you don't know what is waiting around that corner. At this
:24:42. > :24:48.point your hands are wrapped across the steering wheel. This is bad
:24:48. > :24:56.driving. Everybody does this. The airbag opens at over 200 miles per
:24:56. > :25:02.hour. It opens with 1,000 llbs per square inch. Your arms will hit
:25:02. > :25:07.your face at 200mph. People every day drive and repeat their bad
:25:07. > :25:11.habits. The fact they don't pay the price for the mistakes they make
:25:11. > :25:15.throughout their journey means they do it the following day. They
:25:15. > :25:21.haven't had accidents, why should they worry? You think that is what
:25:21. > :25:24.is happening to me? Yes, it is. company whose cameras they are have
:25:24. > :25:27.accumulated an archive of near misses and non-foetal accidents in
:25:27. > :25:37.the United States. This footage could help analyse how accidents
:25:37. > :25:41.
:25:41. > :25:46.happen. -- non-fatal. I will have lessons to help address my bad
:25:46. > :25:53.driving habits. How are you doing? Hello. Driving carefully as I pick
:25:53. > :25:59.you up. Well done. Didn't want to get told off immediately. Try to
:25:59. > :26:04.avoid resting your right elbow on the door. Right. Yes. Both hands on
:26:04. > :26:07.the wheel? Both hands on the wheel. Looking well ahead. Exactly.
:26:07. > :26:11.Looking down to the foreground, lifting back up again. He is
:26:11. > :26:16.teaching me to look further ahead. So I have more time to react to
:26:16. > :26:20.what's happening around me. How much difference to the risk of
:26:20. > :26:28.having an accident is this kind of forward thinking, this looking
:26:28. > :26:31.ahead? My opinion is, you would increase your driving safety by 90%.
:26:31. > :26:36.Britain's road safety record has improved vastly in recent decades.
:26:36. > :26:39.We have some of the safest roads in the world. There are areas of our
:26:39. > :26:44.road network that have seen significant increases in the
:26:44. > :26:49.numbers killed and seriously injured in the last year. I have
:26:49. > :26:54.come off the motorway, I'm driving on an A-road, my chances of getting
:26:55. > :26:59.into a collision have gone up by five times. Only about a tenth of
:26:59. > :27:05.our road network is made up of A- roads. Half of all fatalities
:27:05. > :27:12.happened on them last year, up by 8%. More than 1,000 people died on
:27:12. > :27:16.them and nearly 10,000 seriously injured. We will drive on some of
:27:16. > :27:21.the riskest roads of all, the rural single carriageways. Of the ten
:27:21. > :27:25.most dangerous roads in Britain, seven are clust nerd one area,
:27:25. > :27:33.Derbyshire and Cheshire. Chris has agreed to show me how one of these
:27:34. > :27:38.roads should be driven. Nice motor. I like it. This is one of the most
:27:38. > :27:41.dangerous roads in Britain, up there, second possibly now the most
:27:41. > :27:46.dangerous road in Britain. Tell me what I should be looking at?
:27:46. > :27:50.problem on a road like this for people is they don't use their
:27:50. > :27:57.speed sensibly. The more vision we get we could increase the speed up
:27:57. > :28:00.towards the speed limit. That gives you an idea of the hazards. As the
:28:00. > :28:03.road lengthens you can make progress, if you think it's safe.
:28:03. > :28:08.As the road gets shorter, which is what it does, as we approach
:28:08. > :28:13.something, that is when we have to consider easing back off. It's all
:28:13. > :28:18.about how far you can see? Yes. It's about reading the road.
:28:18. > :28:22.Casualties on A-roads happen mainly in three ways. Crashes, turning in
:28:22. > :28:28.and out of junctions. Head on collisions whilst overtaking and
:28:28. > :28:32.coming off at bends and hitting objects such as trees. Bend
:28:32. > :28:40.accidents are particularly common on this road, due to its popularity
:28:40. > :28:44.with a certain type of road user. On this road, the A5012, 78% of
:28:44. > :28:48.those killed and seriously injured are motor cyclists. Four of the ten
:28:49. > :28:58.most dangerous roads form part of a network of routes popular with
:28:58. > :29:02.bikers. The town of Matlock Bath is where they get together. Bike
:29:02. > :29:08.something about adrenaline and freedom and the naughty side of it.
:29:08. > :29:13.0-60 in less than two seconds. is way faster than a Porsche or a
:29:13. > :29:18.Lamborghini? Oh, yeah, in the dust. The open roads and controlling the
:29:18. > :29:25.bikes and throw them around corners. Just the adrenaline really. We have
:29:25. > :29:30.the ambulance going past. The truth is, 78% of the deaths and serious
:29:30. > :29:34.injuries on this road are motor cyclists. Yeah. What is that about?
:29:34. > :29:39.Most people think they can ride fast and just push their luck a
:29:39. > :29:45.little bit too much sometimes. Government is considering dropping
:29:46. > :29:51.the speed limit to 40 on many stretches of rural A-roads. What do
:29:51. > :29:55.Matlock bikers think of that? not people riding at 60mph causing
:29:55. > :30:00.the accidents, people riding at double of that on the same road and
:30:00. > :30:04.treating it like a racetrack are ruining it for us. We would be in
:30:04. > :30:09.first gear. You wouldn't have any accidents? What we should do then
:30:09. > :30:15.is probably get rid of all bikes, then we all drive around in cars
:30:15. > :30:20.with trackers. So we all, do you know what I mean? You think it's a
:30:20. > :30:30.freedom thing here? Totally. Bike something about freedom. That is
:30:30. > :30:33.
:30:33. > :30:43.one word wiebging -- bike something For cars overtaking on A-roads can
:30:43. > :30:43.
:30:44. > :30:51.be more dangerous. At just 17, Josie, a keen showjumper survived a
:30:51. > :30:55.head-on collision on a rural stretch of the A4042. That was 2003.
:30:55. > :31:01.Better known these days as a Paralympic gold medallist the
:31:01. > :31:08.accident has defined her life ever since. Have you got it in there?
:31:08. > :31:17.Can I see it? Can I touch it? course you can. That is so heavy!
:31:17. > :31:20.Oh, God, it is gorgeous. Joes ji and four friend were on a day out
:31:20. > :31:24.when her boyfriend tried to overtake another car on a bend.
:31:24. > :31:29.They ended up in a head-on collision that killed him and left
:31:29. > :31:33.Josie paralysed from the chest down. Tell me what injuries you sustained.
:31:33. > :31:38.I don't really have any movement or feeling from my top of my chest
:31:38. > :31:43.downwards. So I don't have any use of my leg, I don't have any feeling
:31:43. > :31:47.there. What was the impact on your family? Devastating for the whole
:31:47. > :31:53.family, really. I guess it is not just life-changing for me, but for
:31:53. > :31:57.them as well. When society thinks about crash, do you think we are
:31:57. > :32:00.too fixated on the fatalities that, the people that die rather than
:32:00. > :32:04.survive. People should know what happens to the people who get
:32:04. > :32:09.injured and how veer they can be, and how they have to deal with them
:32:10. > :32:14.from a day-to-day basis. I am a lucky one, I can live independently,
:32:14. > :32:19.unfortunately there are people out there that can't, and rely on
:32:19. > :32:25.constant care. Do you think roads, A-roads in particular, need to be
:32:25. > :32:31.made safer? I live in the countryside, and you know, most
:32:31. > :32:37.roads are a 60mph zone, which I feel is, it should be much lower,
:32:37. > :32:40.there should be much stricter limits. Aside from speed limits is
:32:40. > :32:46.there anything that could be done to these roads to make them less
:32:46. > :32:50.dangerous? I am riding with the European roads assessment programme,
:32:50. > :32:55.EuroRAP and this is the rapmobile. Vehicles like this scan road in
:32:55. > :33:01.Britain, giving each one a safety rating and suggesting improvements.
:33:01. > :33:05.With me is John Dawson, EuroRAP chairmanment we are looking at the
:33:05. > :33:08.A530. Ranked at the sixth most dangerous road in Britain. On one
:33:09. > :33:14.eight mile stretch of this road, 46 people have been killed or
:33:14. > :33:20.seriously injured in the last ten years. Using this vehicle, what can
:33:20. > :33:24.you tell about a road? As I drive along, almost every single risk
:33:25. > :33:29.factor that you could imagine is popping up on this eight mile
:33:29. > :33:34.section of road. Nearly half of the crashes on this road are at
:33:34. > :33:38.junctions. We are passing through a junction now where there is no safe
:33:38. > :33:43.turning bay. A vehicle has to stand in the centre of the road, and just
:33:43. > :33:47.hope that no-one comes from behind and wipes them out. Creating safe
:33:48. > :33:53.turning bays can be as simple as painting lines on the reend it is
:33:53. > :33:57.one of the most coast effective crash prevention methods. Look at
:33:57. > :34:03.that lamppost close to roadside. Hit one of those at any speed and
:34:03. > :34:09.you are dead. This is pretty much a crisis stretch of road. What do you
:34:09. > :34:15.mean? We would close the railway network if we had the number of
:34:15. > :34:18.deaths and serious injuries that occur thon road in five years.
:34:18. > :34:24.A530 cuts through the village of aston where the residents live on a
:34:24. > :34:29.high risk junction. Look at the traffic here. This is one of the
:34:29. > :34:33.accident blackspots on the road. It is a key junction and what is
:34:33. > :34:37.interesting isn't just the cars rushing up and down, it is if you
:34:37. > :34:41.look at the road markings, they have been ground away by the
:34:41. > :34:46.traffic. On the other side of the road there are signs which have
:34:46. > :34:50.been knocked over. So what is it like to live of one of the most
:34:50. > :34:53.dangerous roads in Britain? When I am taking the kid to school,
:34:53. > :34:56.turning right, I am waiting for someone to be overtaking a truck or
:34:56. > :35:02.coming round the corner, and for someone to plough in the side of
:35:02. > :35:07.the car. I had an accident turning right. At the time when I pulled
:35:07. > :35:12.out, there was nothing. But by the time I had got across the road, he
:35:12. > :35:18.had bumped into me. The cars just come through the fence because they
:35:18. > :35:22.can't control themselves. Into your garden? Yes. Last one was three
:35:22. > :35:27.weeks' ago. These poorly designed junctions are all over the country
:35:27. > :35:33.and can be a source of misery for the people who live near them. In
:35:33. > :35:38.the village of Rivenhall I have chanced upon a man rebuilding a
:35:38. > :35:46.wall. What happened here? A car knocked it over. Look at that.
:35:46. > :35:50.know. Luckily no-one was hurt. is what remains of the car. That is
:35:50. > :35:53.very scary. This time they got them. Most of the time the wall is
:35:53. > :35:59.knocked down and they drive off. How many times has this happened?
:35:59. > :36:04.have rebuilt it five times. In how long? Five or six years. Overall,
:36:04. > :36:08.one third of deaths on single and dual carriageways happen on
:36:08. > :36:14.junctions like this one. Why have you got your van here? To protect
:36:14. > :36:24.me while I am working. Are you that worried? Yeah, wait until a lorry
:36:24. > :36:29.
:36:29. > :36:33.It is really obvious what the problem is here. You know it's a
:36:33. > :36:36.30mph road that runs through little village, going straight on to one
:36:36. > :36:43.of the most major A road going in and out of London. That is why you
:36:43. > :36:47.have got cars going through people's frond walls. Night mare!
:36:47. > :36:55.The Department for Transport puts the cost to the economy of a road
:36:55. > :37:00.fatality at 1.7 million, a serious injury is valued at �190,000. So by
:37:00. > :37:06.the DFT's own rock conning accidents here have cost the
:37:06. > :37:11.economy nearly �15 million over the last decade. Yet EuroRAP calculates
:37:11. > :37:16.it would cost less than 2.5 million to put many of the problems right.
:37:16. > :37:21.If you put in a safety barrier or traffic signals or revised junction
:37:21. > :37:26.you save that amount, not this year, every year for the next 20 years
:37:26. > :37:31.typically, so this is why, infrastructure safety is so high
:37:31. > :37:35.return, because round abouts which I put in as a young engineer, and
:37:35. > :37:40.that were saving five or six deaths or injuries a year are still doing
:37:40. > :37:45.that 30, 40 years later. Which makes me wonder if the benefits of
:37:45. > :37:50.investing in safety on roads like this are so great, why on earth
:37:50. > :37:54.hasn't the Local Authority been spending money here? Last year, the
:37:54. > :37:59.Government made Local Authorities responsible for safety on their
:37:59. > :38:03.road. Rod Menlove is from Cheshire East Council. We drive it today,
:38:03. > :38:09.with the European road assessment programme, the chairman, who
:38:09. > :38:12.described the road as in crisis, he said any road that is killing this
:38:12. > :38:15.many people urgently needs attention. It is obviously a
:38:15. > :38:19.dangerous road, but it all comes down in the end to the driver
:38:19. > :38:23.activity. They should be driving according to road and traffic
:38:23. > :38:27.conditions. Some would they that is complacent. It's a problem settling
:38:27. > :38:31.the priorities, OK. We don't have enough to spend on the road, and
:38:31. > :38:34.that, I mean all Local Authorities have the same problem there is
:38:34. > :38:38.nowhere near enough coming from central Government to spend tn road.
:38:38. > :38:42.Shouldn't you go to Government and say we need money to address this
:38:42. > :38:49.problem, there are people dying here, you need to help us. That is
:38:49. > :38:52.a very good point, in fact, earlier this month, our leader, he wrote in,
:38:52. > :38:57.and he said we need money for the road, the roads are getting worse
:38:57. > :39:01.and worse, we have had three bad winter, we have had load of floods,
:39:01. > :39:06.we need more money. What did the Government say? We haven't got an
:39:06. > :39:11.answer yet. I think we were pitching for something like 40
:39:11. > :39:15.million as a realistic figure. We wait to see. So have the Government
:39:15. > :39:19.handed over responsibility to Cheshire east but not given them
:39:19. > :39:24.enough money? I have set up a meeting with Stephen Hammond the
:39:24. > :39:28.minister responsible for road safety. We have spoken to Local
:39:28. > :39:32.Authorities, and they say they don't have enough money. Cheshire
:39:32. > :39:37.says it needs �40 million more. Everybody is going to demand extra
:39:37. > :39:41.money. What I ask them to think about is how they prioritise how
:39:41. > :39:46.their spending, to ensure road safety is at the top of it and to
:39:46. > :39:50.think ant the huge amount of money Government is providing to them.
:39:50. > :39:54.The amount of money you are providing to Local Authorities is
:39:54. > :40:01.reducing. Again, every Local Authority will have to sound out
:40:01. > :40:08.its priorities, it would be an odd authority that didn't decide road
:40:08. > :40:15.safe ty. We can't expect any major improphet s on big east sixth most
:40:15. > :40:20.dangerous road any time soon, so be careful if you drive along it. --
:40:20. > :40:27.emprovements. It is not just improving speed limits that will
:40:27. > :40:32.reduce the number of casualties. Since road deaths reached their all
:40:32. > :40:42.time high of 8,000 there has been a steady decline and much of that is
:40:42. > :40:46.down to improvements in car stebg ji. -- technology. There are
:40:46. > :40:51.crumple zones designed to absorb the energy. Space between the
:40:51. > :40:55.bonnet and the engine means that fewer pedestrians die from head
:40:55. > :40:59.injuries. Air bags and seat belts keep you in position and protect
:40:59. > :41:06.you from hitting the hard surfaces in the car that used to kill
:41:06. > :41:09.thousands a year in Britain. Good morning. Since midnight last night
:41:09. > :41:14.if you to drive and don't wear one of these you are breaking the law
:41:14. > :41:19.and you can be fined up to �350. is estimated seat belts have saved
:41:19. > :41:25.more than 60,000 lives since they became compulsory in 83. A third of
:41:25. > :41:30.people killed last year, weren't wearing seat belts. But there is
:41:30. > :41:33.only so far you can go designing a car to be safe in an accident, that
:41:33. > :41:40.is why the focus these days is about avoiding accidents in the
:41:40. > :41:44.first place. Are back at the test track. These technologies are going
:41:44. > :41:51.to be a revolution in crash safety. These are going to prevent crash,
:41:51. > :41:54.like nothing else before. This isn't expensive technology. �200 is
:41:54. > :42:01.the cost of this automatic braking system which could stop you running
:42:01. > :42:08.into the vehicle in front. That was so weird. I just put my foot down
:42:08. > :42:15.and the car came to a stop. 80% of crashes, all crashes occur like
:42:15. > :42:19.this, below about 20mph. 80%! particular crash is one in four of
:42:19. > :42:28.all crashes, one car drives into the back of another. Pedestrian
:42:28. > :42:34.recognition can tell if you are about to hit a person. That is
:42:34. > :42:38.amazing. That is another child fatality saved. I am going to be
:42:38. > :42:45.testing a system heralded as the biggest life saver since the seat
:42:45. > :42:50.belt. It is called electronic stability control. My mini is not
:42:50. > :42:55.equipped with it. ECS works by stabilising the car, when you go
:42:55. > :43:00.into a rapid lane change manoeuvre; the car will want to skid so it
:43:00. > :43:05.monitors where you want to drive and where it is driving and brakes
:43:05. > :43:09.individual wheels momentarily to stabilise the car. We have set up a
:43:09. > :43:14.test scenario similar to this one caught on drivecam. Checking out
:43:14. > :43:19.her lipstick the driver starts to drift into the hard shoulder. Not
:43:19. > :43:29.noticing a stationery car. When she sees it she steers and the cargoes
:43:29. > :43:32.
:43:32. > :43:36.into a skid. -- car goes into a skid. Our test driver will take
:43:36. > :43:46.this car through a similar manoeuvre at 50mph. I don't know
:43:46. > :43:47.
:43:47. > :43:54.whether to keep my eyes open or closed. Keep them open.. This is a
:43:54. > :44:04.system that has fantastic life- saving capabilities. In one of the
:44:04. > :44:08.
:44:08. > :44:17.most life-threatening crash types You will will be hearing more about
:44:17. > :44:22.it. Let's hope you never need it. Since we started filming I have had
:44:22. > :44:27.a black box hidden in my car. The boxs are being used by the
:44:27. > :44:34.insurance industry to keep an eye on the driver. It scores the
:44:34. > :44:40.driver's performance. The skid test in the Mini has produced a low
:44:40. > :44:47.score. 5.26%, appalling. It's telling me the temperature, the
:44:47. > :44:54.weather conditions, the time of day and what I was doing. I was braking,
:44:54. > :44:58.quite hard. I was accelerating, I think that is what that is telling
:44:58. > :45:03.me, and turning left. Yes, because we were doing really sharp left
:45:03. > :45:08.turns. If a teenager was doing doughnuts or messing around in
:45:08. > :45:12.their car. This would pick it up, give them a low score and it would
:45:12. > :45:16.affect their insurance premium seriously. In Italy, where this
:45:16. > :45:21.technology is in 800,000 cars the statistics suggest that accidents
:45:21. > :45:26.have been reduced by 16%. I'm not entirely comfortable about being
:45:26. > :45:32.tracked and monitored all the time. There is a civil liberties debate
:45:32. > :45:36.about the black boxes. They are not the first box to divide opinion.
:45:36. > :45:41.all the efforts that have been brought in to make us better and
:45:41. > :45:48.safer drivers, the most controversial, and probably the
:45:48. > :45:52.most hated, is the speed camera. It's to make money. It would help
:45:52. > :45:58.reduce casualties. When you see a speed camera you slow down, when
:45:58. > :46:03.you go past it you speed up again. When you see a sign you slow down.
:46:03. > :46:08.They must reduce casualties. People see them and immediately brake and
:46:08. > :46:14.there are more problems. They are a waste of time. There should be more
:46:14. > :46:18.of them. I'm on my way to the site of first one.
:46:18. > :46:25.NEWSREEL: Steven was the first British motorists to be convicted
:46:25. > :46:30.on the evidence of an speed camera. Ex-police officer Roger Reynolds
:46:30. > :46:33.erected the first speed camera in the UK. Have you concerns about
:46:33. > :46:38.speed cameras, this gentleman introduced them to Great Britain.
:46:38. > :46:43.You thought it was a good idea when you brought it in? It is a sound
:46:43. > :46:47.idea. They work. They reduce speed. If you reduce speed, you improve
:46:47. > :46:52.road safety. No argument about that. This road is renowned for serious
:46:52. > :46:57.accidents at high-speed. When we started here, in 22 days we
:46:57. > :47:03.recorded 23,000 people doing more than 65mph down this road. That is
:47:03. > :47:08.1,000 people a day going over 65mph? 65mph in a 40mph. We are
:47:08. > :47:13.talking about serious problems here. How much difference does the camera
:47:13. > :47:20.make? In the first three years, 66% reduction in fatal accidents.
:47:20. > :47:24.two-thirds? 16 people alive today because of these. 355 the number of
:47:24. > :47:31.of reduction in serious injury accidents. Speed cameras are so
:47:31. > :47:37.effective, why do people hate them so much? Professor Frank McKenna
:47:37. > :47:41.has spent his career trying to understand why people speed. The
:47:41. > :47:48.road safety brain of Britain. I want to ask him why so many people
:47:48. > :47:51.see speed cameras as the local authorities way of make a fast
:47:51. > :47:58.buck? If people don't believe in the motivations of the authorities
:47:58. > :48:03.it's a challenge. If they can show these are crash sites that are
:48:03. > :48:09.dangerous, people will follow them. Do they really work? If you look in
:48:09. > :48:19.urban areas, then, in the past, the majority of people were braking the
:48:19. > :48:20.
:48:20. > :48:25.30mph limit. Nowadays, the majority of people keep the 30mph limit.
:48:25. > :48:30.People's speeds have come down over the years. Britain has 88,000 miles
:48:30. > :48:36.of urban roads where 70% of all accidents happen. Urban areas have
:48:36. > :48:41.their own set of dangers, cars negotiate junctions bumper to
:48:41. > :48:45.bumper. Pedestrians and cyclists vie with car and buses for position
:48:45. > :48:51.on crowded streets. Pedestrians account for a quarter of all road
:48:52. > :48:55.deaths. The number killed increased to 12% last year. We might have
:48:55. > :48:59.relatively safe road for car drivers for pedestrians we are one
:48:59. > :49:06.of the least safe in Europe. The growing number of urban cyclists
:49:06. > :49:11.are at risk on our streets. The problems of protecting them has
:49:11. > :49:15.long troubled our urban planners. Now, a new concept in road safety
:49:15. > :49:19.is transforming Britain's streets. I'm taking another lesson with
:49:19. > :49:24.Chris Gilbert. We are going down London's Exhibition Road where
:49:24. > :49:34.signs and road markings have been removed. Now, this is very
:49:34. > :49:40.interesting. This is interesting. There are a series of pol les, no
:49:40. > :49:46.road markings, no kerb, the pavement begins. Now, I'm anxious.
:49:46. > :49:50.There seems to be a roundabout you can't tell. I'm stopping. Someone
:49:50. > :49:54.is beeping behind me. It feels strange. It feels as if we are
:49:54. > :49:59.driving on the wrong side of the road. It feels like it should be
:49:59. > :50:04.the carriageway, it's not. The concept is called - naked street.
:50:04. > :50:09.It started in Holland 15 years ago, there are now schemes all around
:50:09. > :50:16.England. Coventry will be pulling out their last traffic light in the
:50:16. > :50:19.city centre next year. I have been invited to an unusual venue by
:50:19. > :50:26.urban designer Ben Hamilton Ballie. Why did you want me to come out
:50:26. > :50:33.here, other than wanting to see me humilitating? It's an interesting
:50:33. > :50:38.analogy. Fascinating to observe ice rinks when it's busy. People are
:50:38. > :50:47.making split decisions about which way to go. How to stop. The less
:50:47. > :50:54.rules there are, the more we rely on our intuitive skills as humans.
:50:54. > :50:57.How do you stop though? Speed cameras, managed motorways, it's
:50:57. > :51:04.about taking control away from humans. I'm intrigued to see an
:51:04. > :51:08.idea that gives us back our independence. Ben's company has
:51:08. > :51:14.designed the Coventry scheme for the council. The drivers are...
:51:14. > :51:19.not doing that. You want me to walk backwards? It's fine. It doesn't
:51:19. > :51:23.feel right. It doesn't feel right. It can cope with it. Speeds are low.
:51:23. > :51:29.Drivers are anticipating and observing their surroundings in a
:51:29. > :51:35.way that we saw on the ice rink. People are aware of what is around
:51:35. > :51:40.you. A big bus is around us. I'm worried. Let's front it out. It's
:51:40. > :51:44.weird to stand in the middle of a busy road. I'm not the only one who
:51:44. > :51:49.feel that is way. It's the most confusing junction here. You are
:51:50. > :51:54.like, is that a zebra crossing, is that a zebra crossing? Very
:51:54. > :51:58.dangerous. Unsafe in my opinion. You don't know where is coming and
:51:58. > :52:03.going. The sense of danger the pedestrians feel is the whole point.
:52:03. > :52:07.It makes them more alert. When it first came in I thought it was
:52:07. > :52:10.dangerous. Now I'm used to, it I like it without the traffic lights.
:52:10. > :52:17.People look in different ways before they cross the road, even
:52:17. > :52:22.though there are no traffic lights. It looks neat. It would slow me
:52:22. > :52:29.down. It's causing concern with disability groups. What would you
:52:29. > :52:32.have said if they asked you? Well... No. Straightaway. Just, no. Yes.
:52:32. > :52:37.You are that adamant they don't work for blind people? They do not
:52:37. > :52:43.work for blind people. This is what we haven't got. Icon tact with the
:52:43. > :52:46.drivers. With all the noise around us, it's so hard to know that
:52:46. > :52:50.people have stopped for you. There has been controversy when accidents
:52:50. > :52:55.have happened, but the supporters of naked streets, here in Coventry,
:52:55. > :53:00.and around the country, believe the statistics are on their side.
:53:00. > :53:04.Statistics show that what we have done so far is safer. Before we
:53:04. > :53:07.introduced the scheme there was one injury accident every six weeks.
:53:07. > :53:12.Since the scheme has been introduced, one injury accident, on
:53:12. > :53:16.average, every six months. We think it will produce a safer area as
:53:16. > :53:21.well. More pleasant area for pedestrians? And a better area to
:53:21. > :53:31.look at. All the areas we changed look better without the clutter.
:53:31. > :53:37.You make a persuasive case. Good politician. Tut, tut... Although
:53:37. > :53:41.shared space may be letting us make our own decision, the latest
:53:41. > :53:50.technical invasion to become mandatory in cars may bring in an
:53:50. > :53:57.era of unprecedented control. We are here to see Ecall, an simple
:53:57. > :54:01.ideal with massive repercussions. Using the same technology as my box,
:54:01. > :54:05.it dials the emergency services in the case of an accident. It's key
:54:05. > :54:09.we get the emergency services to the accident, the scene of the
:54:09. > :54:13.accident quickly and for them to know the details of the type of
:54:13. > :54:23.accident, where the vehicle is located. Seconds count after an
:54:23. > :54:26.
:54:26. > :54:31.accident, in terms of lives saved. Oh, my God! Listen to this. "thank
:54:32. > :54:36.you for calling." This is sending data. Something has happened?
:54:37. > :54:42.The device in the car has been triggered. If you are in an
:54:42. > :54:50.accident and severely injured, they will call whoever it needs to call,
:54:50. > :54:55.how many people are in the car and the the severity of the accident.
:54:55. > :54:59.How much difference would it make to get the emergency services on
:55:00. > :55:05.the way? It's giving them reliable information of location. That could
:55:05. > :55:11.make a difference of about 50% in emergency response times. How soon
:55:11. > :55:16.do you think it will be this will become common place? 2015 every new
:55:16. > :55:20.car sold in Europe must have this device fitted. The UK Government
:55:20. > :55:24.won't commit to funding the administration of the system here.
:55:24. > :55:29.After looking at research, ministers aren't convinced that the
:55:29. > :55:35.benefits outweigh the costs for the UK. As we come to the end of the
:55:35. > :55:41.first part of our journey it seems the debate around Ecall reflects a
:55:41. > :55:45.turning point for road safety. If it's installed in our cars all the
:55:45. > :55:49.systems will be fitted to the mobile network. Some people feel it
:55:49. > :55:54.will be the way of slipping monitoring technology into our cars
:55:54. > :55:58.and could be used for other purposes other than road safety.
:55:58. > :56:04.Car to car communications are possible for the first time. A step
:56:04. > :56:09.that would be a quantum leap in safety technology. We know what is
:56:09. > :56:13.around the corner. Where one vehicle is talking to another. We
:56:13. > :56:18.will not believe in 20 years' time where we have moved from. With cars
:56:18. > :56:22.talking to each other, not only could your cartel the emergencies
:56:22. > :56:27.services that you have crashed, but also the cars following or that you
:56:27. > :56:32.have encountered black ice, or tell the car around the bend that you've
:56:32. > :56:37.stopped in the road. Imagine, if the cars on the M5 could have let
:56:37. > :56:40.the others know they had encountered bad visibility? We have
:56:40. > :56:45.difficult choices ahead between our civil liberties and our safety. If
:56:45. > :56:49.we put safety first, what could that mean? What is the am mission
:56:49. > :56:55.for all of this, bringing together the technologies, improvements in
:56:56. > :57:00.car designs and roads? As a hope or vision we could envisage zero
:57:00. > :57:02.fatalities. If that's a relistic expectation, the economic benefit
:57:02. > :57:10.could be significant. The Department for Transport estimates
:57:10. > :57:19.that the cost to the economy of crashes last year was �15.6 billion.
:57:19. > :57:22.For 100 years we have (inaudible) death and serious injury. We have a
:57:22. > :57:30.budget for the fire, ambulance and police to deal with. It what we
:57:30. > :57:33.need to do is say, how can we stop this? It is about systematic
:57:34. > :57:38.attention to the detail, to the vehicles, to the roads and the
:57:38. > :57:41.driver behaviour. Many experts are anxious that this first increase in
:57:41. > :57:46.casualties for many years is evidence that the focus on safety
:57:46. > :57:51.is weakening and that deaths and serious injuries could continue to
:57:51. > :57:58.rise. We all have to decide whether nearly 2,000 people dying on our
:57:58. > :58:02.roads in one year is acceptable. know as many people as I do who
:58:02. > :58:06.have died or been involved in a car accident, if I just think, it
:58:06. > :58:11.should not happen. If you ask any individual what value they put on
:58:11. > :58:18.the life of their son, mother, brother, father, you know, there
:58:18. > :58:24.wouldn't be a number. There wouldn't be a figure. 90% of
:58:24. > :58:29.accidents involve human error. Next week, we will be looking at us, the
:58:29. > :58:36.drivers. What are these catastrophic errors we are making?
:58:36. > :58:41.He is watching documentaries on his laptop. I'm tired right now.