Reducing Accidents

As with railways, the existence of a duty to compensate victims did not have much impact on reducing accidents. Many of the early accidents were due to poor quality roads and defects in the car. In most countries, the legislator introduced regulations governing matters such as

• The construction and maintenance of vehicles;
• Driving tests to ensure drivers were competent and trained;
• Speed limits.
• Road signs and highway codes, so drivers followed common rules. (Many of these rules were agreed as international standards as early as 1910.)
• Road design. For example, special places for pedestrians to cross the road, roundabouts, traffic lights.

Even then accidents rose, as there were more vehicles on the roads. In Britain and Germany, the peak of the rate accidents was reached before the Second World War. But the numbers of accidents continued to rise until the early 1970s and have declined ever since. (In France, Germany and England, there were fewer deaths on the roads in 2000 than there were in 1950, even though there were many more cars and lorries.) Among the measures introduced by the legislatures in Europe to reduce accidents were:

• Limits on the amount of alcohol that a driver could legally drink, and road-side tests for drink-driving offences;
• Compulsory wearing of seatbelts;
• More safety features in cars, such as airbags and better wing mirrors;
• Improved markings and lighting on roads.

The success of regulation and road design as ways of reducing accidents shows that the function of private law is mainly to compensate victims.

The effects of intense road regulation can be unexpected.