" INADEQUATE " ROADS [To the Editor of THE SPECTATOR.]
SIR,—An authority on motor traffic points out that we have more mechanical vehicles per 100 miles of road, and per square mile of area, than are to be found in any other country, and he contends that, therefore, our roads are " inadequate." He means, obviously, that we ought to spend many more millions on road making or modernization. Is that right ?
Since the War we have spent at least half as much on roads as the cost of making railways in a century, only to find that traffic suitable for railways has been diverted to public roads, and we suffer 7,000 deaths and 200,000 personal injuries in a year, plus all the nerve-racking dins of automobiles. Are we to have more of this madness and manslaughter ?
The way to make our roads adequate is surely not to spend more money on the roads, on cars, on imported petrol, and on medical and surgical attention and inquests and funerals, but to put all heavy and express traffic where it ought to be— on the suitable and safe railways. Make the roads fit to walk on, in peace, comfort and safety by prohibiting unnecessary and unsafe vehicles and traffic. Let us save money and lives and suffering ; use the railways properly ; cease using the roads improperly ; stop the scandalous dins, dangers, and deaths caused by callous speed fiends on public roads !-
Previous page
