One death on our roads is one too many, especially when so many accidents are so easily avoidable by driving slower and with more care.

This is why the news that 27 people were killed or seriously injured on Barrow roads in just one year is such a stark statistic.

This newspaper constantly carries court reports of dangerous driving convictions, and Cumbria Police are routinely closing vital trunk roads due to accidents in the county. The cost to the taxpayer, and to Cumbria's economy due to lost work hours, must be enormous.

But the human toll is so much worse - losing a loved one because of the reckless driving of another, or indeed through fault of their own, is a bitter pill to swallow which leaves many families still searching for answers.

The emergency services, the people who take on the mental burden of attending fatal incidents, constantly hammer home the message that speed and not paying attention to the road are factors in the majority of crashes in the region.

It isn't the fells, it isn't the winding roads, it isn't the fog - it's human error.

It is the responsibility of every person who gets behind the wheel of a car to get home safely and to not endanger others.

Is being three minutes early for work really worth the risk of arriving 30 years early for the afterlife?