Driverless cars might never be 100% safe because technology can’t handle the unexpected, or the unprogrammed. Human beings are uniquely equipped. We have the innate ability to make judgements and adjustments, as Ben Hamilton-Baillie used to say, in the blink of an eye. The problem isn’t the people. It’s the system. Given a level-playing field on which we can live and let live, and act sociably, “accidents” would simply stop happening
The optimum way of managing traffic is to let traffic manage itself. By traffic I mean all traffic, from pedestrian to motor traffic. First you have to change the basic rule from priority (Get out of my way!) to equality (After you). Next you need a driving test that enshrines equality as the basic rule, or protocol of the road. “All road-users are equal, except for the vulnerable, who are more equal than others.”
Then you replace priority junctions and traffic lights with all-way give-ways, and re-engineer streets and public space to express equality.
