Road death in Britain fell to an historical low last year. Like ours, the 2008 British road toll was the lowest since record-keeping began more than 75 years ago.

Worryingly, though, the Australian road toll is back on the rise. The national road toll for the first five months of 2008 was 572. This year, it's up to 664 - roughly where we were back in 2007. The figures suggest a close correlation between petrol price and road trauma. The more petrol costs, the less we drive. And the less we drive, the less we die. Go figure.