IT MIGHT, at first sight, seem harsh that ambulance drivers involved in accidents for which they may not be to blame will now be forced to undergo rigorous assessment by their bosses of their ability at the wheel.

Yet the tough new guidelines are not about persecuting the blameless, but eliminating accidents altogether.

The policy of zero accident involvement may set high goals, but ambulance chiefs are right to strive for them. For ambulance drivers frequently have the task of getting emergency cases to hospital as swiftly as possible in difficult and congested road conditions.

But they must also do their job as safely as possible.

And what can be wrong with the stress on that?

After all, no-one knows better than the ambulance crews themselves what horrors ensue when accidents occur.

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