There's usually sobering news on the run-up to Christmas, but the standard of 'driving' on a bit of ice and snow this morning is just an indication that the body count inexorably will rise over the holidays.

The flavour of the month is claims of fake accidents and bogus injuries. Well, you can't fake a death, and the annual death tolls released this year do a graphic job, as illustrated chillingly by graphics available on the BBC news site.

There is a map identifying the location of every one of the deaths of 36,371 people who were killed on Britain's roads between 1999 and 2010, and you can search your own postcode and see the locations plotted.

Maybe the scariest thing is the time lapse video of all the accidents, and I reckon it should be compulsory viewing for every driver. But perhaps some sort of effort and resources should finally be aimed at actual training and actually improving driving standards. We get plenty of grim warning adverts and exhortations to be careful, but what good do they do? 36,371 deaths in 10 years. Anything else, and huge resources would be brought to bear. While UK road safety may be better than most places, that's beside the point.The carnage continues, and I reckon that one of the daily Commissions of Inquiry of which the Government is so fond should be set up to look at the issue from all sides. MPs fiddling theirn expenses is worthy of an inquiry and jailing the worst offenders, but surely pales into insignificance compared with thousands dying on our roads non-stop, year in, year out?

There's usually sobering news on the run-up to Christmas, but the standard of 'driving' on a bit of ice and snow this morning is just an indication that the body count inexorably will rise over the holidays.

The flavour of the month is claims of fake accidents and bogus injuries. Well, you can't fake a death, and the annual death tolls released this year do a graphic job, as illustrated chillingly by graphics available on the BBC news site.

There is a map identifying the location of every one of the deaths of 36,371 people who were killed on Britain's roads between 1999 and 2010, and you can search your own postcode and see the locations plotted.

Maybe the scariest thing is the time lapse video of all the accidents, and I reckon it should be compulsory viewing for every driver. But perhaps some sort of effort and resources should finally be aimed at actual training and actually improving driving standards. We get plenty of grim warning adverts and exhortations to be careful, but what good do they do? 36,371 deaths in 10 years. Anything else, and huge resources would be brought to bear. While UK road safety may be better than most places, that's beside the point.The carnage continues, and I reckon that one of the daily Commissions of Inquiry of which the Government is so fond should be set up to look at the issue from all sides. MPs fiddling theirn expenses is worthy of an inquiry and jailing the worst offenders, but surely pales into insignificance compared with thousands dying on our roads non-stop, year in, year out?