We need to talk about how dangerous cars really are

The tragic death of a child in Wimbledon after a Land Rover crashed into a school should make us think seriously about safety, writes Jon Stone. All cars are a risk to life, but the excessive size and weight of SUVs make them even more so

The exact circumstances of what happened are still unclear, but we know that a driver in a Land Rover somehow ploughed through a fence and into a group of children (PA)

Is it appropriate to talk about the dangers posed by cars in the wake of a horrific incident like the one at a primary school in Wimbledon this week?

At the time of writing, the exact circumstances of what happened are still unclear, but we know that a driver in a Land Rover somehow ploughed through a fence and into a group of children. An eight-year old girl has died and 15 others have been injured, some critically.

I would rather not be writing about this subject so soon after a tragedy like this. But given that five people are killed and 84 seriously injured on Britain’s roads every day, to avoid it after such events would require a permanent vow of silence. The rate of casualties amounts to a tragedy every 16 minutes.