MOTORISTS with any level of experience in driving will be able to tell you of the near misses they have had, either through their own fault, that of other road users or even weather conditions.
It is interesting, then, that this week we received a letter saying that driving at 147mph, more than twice the legal limit, was not a danger.
The margin for error at that speed is so tiny that a collision would almost certainly have resulted in
death.
The number of road fatalities that we have to report on every year acts as a sobering reminder that errors of judgement have the potential to ruin lives.
There is no legal speed limit for German motorways, but unfortunately for the man who got caught, the A41 Aston Clinton bypass is not an autobahn.
There are 39 per cent more deaths on Germany's roads than in the UK.
We have strict speeding laws, strict road policing and the lowest number of road deaths in Europe.
The driver had a number of options available to him.
Among these, because it was an emergency, he could have used his mobile to dial 999.
He could have driven to the nearest police station or a more built up area.
After all, he had doubled back on himself at roundabouts to check whether he was actually being followed and had no problem in slowing to the 30mph speed limit once he got nearer to his home.
Instead, he chose the most reckless option, risking his life and the lives of other road users.
People argue that speed does not kill, bad judgements do.
However, if driving at twice the legal limit is not a bad judgement, then it is difficult to qualify what is.
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