• MY condolences go to the family of the cyclist needlessly killed, (Hundreds of cyclists protest at ‘lack of action’ on road safety after death of Queen’s doctor, August 20).

Your leader Comment (Another death: so where is the action that was promised?, August 16) succinctly makes the point that the grumblings of motorists and residents about changes in road layouts pale into insignificance in light of the needless loss of a life.

However, we must never forget that it is the driver that takes the life of a cyclist or pedestrian, not the road infrastructure.

As I understand it, as motorists we have responsibility to adapt our driving according to the road conditions.

If this happens to include a poorly-designed road layout, then it is up to us to drive with sufficient diligence to compensate.

I fear the constant monologue about poor road layouts being the cause of such deaths is letting the real culprits – us motorists – off the hook (both morally and in a strict legal sense).

Your leader also states that for making the changes to the road layout in question “funding will be hard to come by”.

So if we are serious about stopping the unnecessary carnage, an alternative to resource-hungry infrastructure changes needs to be found.

Placing a presumed liability on the motorist for such incidents is implemented in many countries within Europe and beyond and is proven to drastically reduce the same.

And with no impact on the public purse. And with no impact whatsoever on motorists who drive in a safe and considerate manner.

We are faced with a stark choice. Either we insist that our politicians implement a system of presumed liability or we continue to see reports in these pages of cyclists and pedestrians being needlessly killed.

Details on presumed liability can be found on: www.roadpeace.org.

DR GREG CARSON
NW5