If 140 West Yorkshire people were killed in a plane crash, it would be rightly regarded as a major tragedy and there would be widespread shock. That same number killed individually in separate road accidents over a single year might not make the same impact on the public consciousness but is equally as tragic to the families of the people involved.

The increase in the number of those families left grieving for a loved one, often because of the dangerous driving of others, is appalling - as, indeed, is the increase in the number of people seriously hurt, which in West Yorkshire last year rose to 294 from 273 the previous year.

Bradford Council's senior road safety officer points out that many accidents could have been avoided by better driving and less risk-taking. Risk comes in various degrees - from the criminally-stupid recklessness of getting behind the wheel of a car after drinking several cans of strong lager, to using a rat-run along a road which is designated for buses only, like the lower end of Shipley's Market Square.

Apparently more and more motorists are ignoring the restrictions on this route - restrictions which have led pedestrians to believe they can cross it in reasonable safety - and are taking a short cut along it to avoid congestion in Otley Road. And many of them are reported to be exceeding the 15mph limit imposed on buses.

There is clearly a need for some tight policing, perhaps in conjunction with traffic-calming measures to act as a deterrent, to enforce the buses-only status of Market Square and reduce the risk of adding to the toll of accident victims.