Bring back right-angled bends and traffic lights

I am old enough to remember the conversion into high-speed curves of many old right-angled junctions which had previously forced cars to engage bottom gear and corner at walking pace, and the change of many light-controlled crossroads into the pedestrian's nightmare of the urban roundabout.

The consequences are detailed in an article in the Department of 'Transport's Road Accidents GB for 1991' - pedestrian accidents at such junctions have increased from 44 per cent in 1951 to 60 per cent in 1991.

The answer is clear: bring back the lights and the right-angled bends - and use sleeping policemen.

Also, 75 per cent of pedestrian accidents happen in built-up areas. The severity of these is very much speed related: a child hit by a car travelling at 40 mph is ten times more likely to be killed than if hit by one travelling at 20 mph. Yet the most ignored safety law is the 30 mph limit. It is also the easiest to enforce, again by an engineering means - the 'sleeping policeman'.