Forty years ago, it was common for men who had consumed a skinful of booze to climb into their cars and drive away.

Not any more.

Although there is still a hard core minority of offenders (mostly older people), the Breathalyzer, stiff prison sentences and a change in public attitudes since the Sixties have all combined to reduce drink driving.

Now we need to do something about speed, which kills far more people than drinking and driving ever did.

It's going to be hard work since nearly all the drivers I know have a blinding faith in their abilities even at 90mph.

Speed is the biggest single factor in road crashes, causing more than 1,000 deaths and 10,000 serious injuries in Britain every year.

If they were caused by rail travel, dangerous sports or fires, there would be a public outcry.

There is an obvious solution, advocated by the Government, which is for everyone to drive more slowly.

Research has shown even a one mile an hour reduction in average speeds brings a five per cent drop in the number of road crashes.

What happens to pedestrians is even more dramatic. Nearly all of them will die when hit by a car travelling at 30mph. But when that speed is reduced to 20mph, nearly all survive.

That fact alone is enough to make me advocate 20mph limits on all side roads in every town and village, with traffic calming to ensure it is achieved.

But there is still widespread opposition to such a move and you see idiots haring down minor roads in towns at up to 50mph.

I would also impose a 55mph maximum speed limit on motorways as happens in many US states.

The simplest way to enforce this, which often happens in the United States, is to have three police cars all driving together at that speed and blocking each lane.

In other countries, such as Germany, France and Italy, fast driving is more common than here and their road accident rates are correspondingly worse.

The Safer Speeds Initiative reports that in Gloucester a reduction of average speeds on some city roads of 10mph cut the total number of personal injury road crashes by 47 per cent.

Speed cameras in Northamptonshire have cut average speeds by 13mph in six months, with a 40 per cent fall in the number of people killed and seriously injured on the roads.

In Hull, where there are widespread 20mph zones, the number of people killed or seriously injured has dropped by 90 per cent.

But the biggest single safety measures would be to restrict the speed of all new cars to 70mph, the current speed limit, or even 55mph.

I can't see, for the life of me and everyone else on the roads, why manufacturers are allowed to sell vehicles that exceed the current maximum.

Speed can be just as exciting on the open sea, on a bike down a steep hill or even in a theme park.

If only we can persuade people to do that, the roads will be far safer, not just for the speed merchant, but also for the rest of us who might get in their way.

But I fancy the struggle to achieve this will be harder and longer than ever the battle for the Breathalyzer was.