NINE times out of ten, whenever I see fresh flowers lain by the roadside I slow down and take more care. We don't need to see the words on these touching tributes. We all know why they are there.

Marking the spot of a recent tragic accident, they have been left by loved ones still in the throes of grief. Chillingly, they remind us all that death could be just around the corner.

Councillors in North Yorkshire, where such makeshift shrines are increasingly common, are concerned they can appear untidy and such a distraction to drivers they could cause accidents. I recently arrived at the scene of a serious accident just outside Great Ayton, near Stokesley, as police and ambulance workers tended to the injured in the tangled wreckages strewn across the road. We later learnt one man died.

Every time I pass by now, I am reminded of that horrific scene and drive cautiously. It is an awful corner. But other drivers still speed along and, daringly, overtake just before the bend. There are no flowers at the spot but if there were, I suspect it would make them travel more carefully.

I can understand why councillors don't want large, unsightly makeshift memorials along our roadsides. But still, these heartbreaking floral tributes do more to bring home the reality of death on our roads than any number of official accident blackspot signs.

WHEN I got home last Friday, the children's quad bike had gone. We scratched our heads in disbelief and stared hard at the empty space in the garage where the bike usually stood, as if willing it to reappear. We have had so many assorted thefts of lawn mowers, bikes and strimmers from sheds and outbuildings over the years we couldn't even work out if this was the fifth or sixth assault on our property. Then on Tuesday, the Prime Minister appeared on the news announcing a timely crackdown on persistent criminals. "Does this mean we'll get our quad bike back?" asked one of the boys hopefully. Somehow, I don't think so.

THE Archbishop of Canterbury Dr Rowan Williams has criticised the TV programme Footballers' Wives as a sign of the ills in society. But he has hit the wrong target. Following various court cases and tabloid exposes revealing the sordid nature of many real footballers' cocaine-fuelled lives, we all now know more than we would like about activities like "roasting" and "dogging". Footballers' Wives is not as gloriously over the top as we thought, in fact it's positively tame. Perhaps Dr Williams should spend less time in front of the box and examine what is going on in real life instead.

A PRIMARY school teacher in Sunderland pretended she had leukaemia because she was so frightened about an Ofsted inspection. Another school farmed out problem pupils and brought in more experienced teachers in an attempt to hoodwink inspectors this month. Any parent whose children's school has been through an inspection will be aware of just how stressful it is for staff, and how much extra work they appear to have to do for it. Wouldn't it be better for both teachers and children if inspectors did spot checks throughout the year? And it may give parents a more realistic assessment of what is happening in our schools.