3 JANUARY 1964, Page 12

Spectator's Notebook

WHEN we are rejoicing be- cause of the birth of a child 2,000 years ago there is something especially shocking about people be- ing choked by the sea or shattered on our roads. We would no doubt be wise to wait for surer information before we pontificate about the tragedy of the Lakonia, but although there is to be an enquiry into the loss of 120 lives in the four days of Christmas motoring it is not likely to tell us anything very new. When the final toll is known it may well prove higher than the 147 deaths of Christmas, 1959. The subsequent enquiry by the Road Research Laboratory showed that in the majority of the accidents some of the people involved had been drinking: in the night hours the figure reached 80 per cent. There is nothing surprising in this. People must travel at Christmas, and people will drink at Christmas. There will be bad weather at Christmas. There •will be accidents—many fatal —at Christmas.

Exhortation, although valuable, is not enough. Perhaps we should try shock treatment. People were upset by the mournful widow on the 'Keep Death off the Road' posters. We might try her again. Or Mr. Marples might borrow Roy Dewar's brilliantly savage cartoon in this issue.

There is one more weapon we might use. Dan- gerous or even drunken driving is usually re- garded as a minor social misdemeanour. In most clubs a man who becomes bankrupt or makes an arrangement with his creditors has to show cause wby he should not be removed from the list of members. Suppose a drunken driver had to plead his case to retain membership of his club/church/ profession/union/voluntary society/social group? Yes, I can see all the objections. I would prob- ably be the first to object myself. And yet I have a feeling that it would work!