Excuses

"How was I supposed to know it's a 30 limit? It's not like there were speed cameras or anything..." "She was only a kid - not more than twelve. She shouldn't have been crossing the road in the first place." "I was in a hurry, it was late. I've driven that road hundreds of times, I know it like the back of my hand.  There's never been anybody on that road before." "It's a war out there, dog eat dog. If the other guy gets there first, he gets the order.  That's how it is.  And in a war, sometimes innocent bystanders get killed.  Collateral damage.  It's a tragedy, sure - but that's war" Every year over a thousand people die because someone was driving too fast. Road crashes are the largest single cause of accidental death in under-14s in the UK. (http://www.statistics.gov.uk/downloads/theme_health/Dh2_29/DH2No29.pdf) - although traffic crashes account for only one in ten child hospital admissions there are responsible for over half of all deaths. Road traffic is uniquely dangerous to children. The response over the last three decades has been to restrict childrens' independent mobility and massively reduce the amount of exposure to this danger. The effect has been the opposite of what was intended: fatality rates by any measure of exposure have increased substantially, and so has child obesity. Speeding traffic is the most cited reason for not allowing children to walk or cycle to school.