*All* drivers are potential killers. From the pensioner shaking with Parkinson's Disease, who last had an eye test in 1976 and whose lens prescription was hopelessly inadequate (a recent case which appeared in the local paper), to the juvenile imbecile who nearly ran me down in Tesco's car park while gabbling on his mobile phone.

It is unfortunately a part of anyone's character to blame the other driver for the crunch. Even the police advice is "make no admission of responsibility". The attitude has gone so far as to make some mothers deliberately purchase heavy SUV's for the school run, on the grounds that should there be a collision, the other car is more likely to be damaged and its occupants more likely to be injured than her own precious offspring. This apparently selfish attitude is justified by the assertion that the other drivers on the road are more likely to cause the accident.

Incidentally, my own car was written off on November 21st last year. It was parked on the road outside my house. I live on a steep hill; the gradient, restricted visibility and propensity of the road to ice up have led the County Council to declare the road "Access Only". However, this does not stop many drivers using the street as a "rat run" to get round congestion on the main road. One learner driver losing control going downhill and making the fatal mistake of hitting the brakes.

I have to forgive the unfortunate L-Driver. I did tell her husband, "Lucky my car was there, or you'd have gone into the builders' skip". I wasn't joking. Cars absorb a lot of energy as the mutually annihilate each other, a builders skip is an unyielding solid object.

The fault lies at least partly with the County Council, who for ten years have failed to provide a gritting bin at the top of the road, and who have ignored the greatly increased volume of traffic in the immediate area (a garden centre, a pub/restaurant and a drive-through junk food outlet have all opened within the last three months). Furious letters from me to the Council have yet to be answered.

My car, which was a lovingly cared-for L-Reg (manufactured 1993), was worth £500 as a write-off. Mechanical condition is not considered when valuing cars for insurance purposes, only the age and original value. The lesson for motorists is clear. Buy unnecessarily large and expensive vehicles. Deny responsibility. And if you do run into somebody, just have a laugh at the thought that the compensation they receive will be pitiful if they are poorer than you.