Professor John Whitelegg

Recently, I put this question to our expert advisor in the UK, Professor John Whitelegg.

He had this to say:

I do not accept excuses around lack of funding. The costs of not doing something are far higher than the costs of doing something.

And there is something called “ethics” which trumps everything else.

There is no point at all in having local government/councils if they do not strive vigorously to protect human life, prevent tragedies and reduce road traffic accidents/fatalities/injuries by whatever means are within the powers of the council.

If a council was aware that drinking water was killing people because it was contaminated by faecal matter (human excrement), would they say, “Sorry..we do not have a budget allocation to deal with this”?

Of course not. And road deaths are directly equivalent.