Well, yes - but... If we didn't have machines that drive at potentially lethal speeds, human fallibility and stupidity wouldn't be the same problem. If some daydreaming character, or someone tearing along as fast as they can go, bumps into you, that's not a big problem if you're both on foot. Even with horses, the chances are quite good no one will be too seriously injured. It's very different when motor vehicles are involved.

So we've introduced technology that makes trivial accidents fatal. Balancing that with technology which does something to balance that makes sense to me. As I pointed out, our top speed as un-amplified human beings is maybe 23 miles an hour. Those are the kind of reaction times we are really geared for.

If all drivers would use their heads, it'd be great - but it's not going to happen, though we could probably get a lot closer to achieving it; there are a lot of people who shouldn't ever be allowed in a driving seat, or not for a good few years. That's why it's a good idea to do stuff that reduces the danger and the damage ..........................

I've seen those broken bits in the guard rails or the stone barrier on high roads myself too, in Spain and Italy especially. If I had to drive on roads like that, I'd just tuck in behind the slow lorry, and take as long as it took to actually get to where I wanted to get to. I don't trust my ESP.