How Safe Are Britain's Roads?

2 November 2012

BBC TV asks: How Safe Are Britain’s Roads? In a well-balanced and well researched series Justin Rowlatt and Anita Rani clock up the miles, criss-crossing the country to find out why so many traffic accidents are still happening.

In Episode 1 they investigate how safe poorly maintained cars are at high speeds, hear survivor stories, take an expert look at black-spots and more.

For episode two, on 7 Nov Anita and Justin consider the dangers of mobile phones: how do they compare to lack of sleep or alcohol, and are some people more error-prone than others? Research suggests men and women crash in different ways, as do young and old. Justin and Anita get the scientists out of the lab to carry out tests on the Great British public. They use what they find out to examine current proposals. Should we re-test the elderly or ban the young from driving with friends? The programme explores what is behind the statistics through access to a unique video collection of drivers caught on camera during accidents and near misses, showing the errors as they happen – including Justin and Anita’s own. Anita also gets behind the wheel of a car which drives itself - could it eliminate accidents completely?