In the aftermath of...

In the aftermath of the rail crash in Cumbria, point-scoring arguments about the advantages of cars over trains, or vice versa, are entirely inappropriate. Whether they are driving personal mobility vehicles or riding on public transport, the people of Britain attempting to get from A to B are all members of the same expensive club, aren’t they? Even the keenest motorist and their loved ones will inevitably use the railway at various times of their lives, just as train buffs will have to travel by road at some point. We’ve therefore got much more in common than we might think.

When did you last hear a representative from the DfT express regret after a poorly maintained road claimed a life?

Although they are far from faultless, I can’t help thinking that the people, companies, state agencies and political figures responsible for the building, maintenance and management of the railways live in a different world from their counterparts who take care of the road network. Tragic and regrettable though it was, there was only one fatality when a fault on the track sent the Virgin train off the rails and on to the front pages of the papers.

The boss of Network Rail dashed to the scene of the crash, expressed genuine concern, apologised for the accident and acknowledged that he and his company – which is an arm of the Government – were ultimately to blame for the faulty points that triggered the colossal derailment.

When was the last time you heard a senior Highways Agency, Department for Transport or local council representative expressing the same level of regret after a poorly maintained road claimed a life or, more likely, several lives? In my memory, it has never been done. Such faceless ‘professionals’ tend to hide away in their ivory towers whenever they or the organisations they represent are partly or wholly to blame for blood on the streets.

I’m not saying that badly engineered, poorly lit, ungritted, potholed highways with inadequate lines and signs are to blame for every one of the 10 road-related deaths in Britain every day. But I am suggesting that the all-too-obvious faults and failures on our roads, in the cycle lanes and on the pavements are responsible for many of the 3,000 to 4,000 road transport-related deaths and countless injuries that occur every year.

For example, in Mayor Ken Livingstone’s London, I have photographed a potentially lethal pothole large enough to swallow a football. On the streets directly outside the Houses of Parliament, where successive Transport Ministers were supposed to be working to make our journeys safer, I have seen countless unlit bollards at night.I’ve written gut-wrenching reports about badly installed cats’ eyes that have been sucked out of the ground by truck tyres, then hurled through the windscreens of following vehicles with fatal consequences. A year ago, I had to put an urgent phone call into the Highways Agency when I saw overhead gantry arrows trying to send fast-moving traffic down a lane that didn’t exist. Who, exactly, are the highly paid individuals responsible for these failures? How come they run and hide from 10 road deaths a day when the Network Rail chairman goes public following one rail fatality?

More importantly, how come “breach of duty” and “corporate manslaughter” are phrases that are being mentioned in connection with the Virgin train crash which killed only one, when such terms are rarely, if ever, used in the aftermath of road crashes that claim thousands?

Mike Rutherford writes for the Times, Daily Telegraph and Independent, presents ITV’s Pulling Power and is founder member of the Motorists’ Association