Change is vital to stop death of young drivers

This was the observation of Sussex head of road policing Superintendent Steve Barry who was giving a presentation to the county council's Chichester south county local committee.

Supt Barry added that young people involved in accidents tend to have passengers in the car and the incidents often happen at night.

"If we focus attention on where to get the best results, this is where we focus," he added.

Speed was still a massive contributor to death and serious injury, but the other three involved seat belts, drink and drugs - with a whole new generation of drivers who had never got the message that it was socially unacceptable to drink and drive - and distraction, such as mobile phones, sat navs, radios, and children in the back of the car.

'Sports bikers' at weekends were a massive problem, involving anti-social behaviour. Supt Barry said they were also people who were continually falling off and killing themselves.

Special tactics were being used by police to target this group.

Following the presentation the chairman of the county council Mark Dunn called for a 'cultural change' in West Sussex to cut driving speeds.

Cllr Mark Dunn said Chichester already had the Goodwood Festival of Speed.

"Culturally, we have to make sure it becomes the Festival of Safe Speed," he added.

"There is a huge opportunity in this area. At present, faced with the cuts we are going to get, and lack of enforcement, it will have to be cultural change in the community, rather than enforcement."

Cllr Dunn, who represents the county's Bourne division, said that driving in Norfolk, Suffolk and Essex, he had observed that habitual driving speeds in these counties were slower than in West Sussex.

Fatalities were related to weight and speed and force of impact, and people were more exposed because they drove faster than they should.

An accident involving a tractor travelling through Chichester at 26mph, with a plough swinging behind it, would be much more serious than one involving a Ford car, but the tractor had the same speed limit as the car.

A perception of safety greatly influenced the quality of people's lives.

n Do you think drivers in West Sussex are better or worse than those in other counties?

Are driving habits getting worse?

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