One of my interests is aviation, and I was reading a report online the other day about a crash involving a twin engined aircraft which ran out of fuel and crashed into a house. (Pilot incorrectly calculated fuel amount)
Now that info is not relevant to this group, but I was struck by the openness of the accident reporting system, both here and in the USA. It seems that every aviation accident, no matter how small, gets investigated and a report written, usually ending in a list of findings and a list of recommendations. All reports are publically available online.
Is there an equivalent system for road accidents? I don't think there is,and I don't really understand why. It seems that we treat RTAs incredibly casually. If a couple of people die, it gets reported in the local press,but there is no information as to what the factors were and why it happened. There is no follow-up to speak of, and if there is, it just consists of factors of the nature of "the driver was over the legal alcohol limit", or "he was speeding". I believe the police investigate accidents, but they must keep the reports to themselves.
Contrast that with the aviation, or even the railway industry.
A lot of people die on our roads, and there just seems to be this misguided focus on blanket speed limit enforcement. I think there should be a lot more focus on what causes road accidents, and what can be done to avoid them. A country-wide policy on accident investigation and reporting would be the start of a more serious and grown-up approach to the problem.