Top 10 car commandments

It's because he read the good book, the Catholic Church's "Guidelines for the Pastoral Care of the Road".

Delivered from the Vatican, the good book was published first in 2007 and despite the intervening years, still has a message for everyone on the road. Here is the Vatican's Ten Commandments for Drivers.

"The moral responsibility of road users, both drivers and pedestrians, derives from the obligation to respect the Fifth and Seventh Commandments: `Thou shalt not kill' and `Thou shalt not steal'. The gravest sins against human life, deriving from the Fifth Commandment, are suicide and murder, but this commandment also requires respect for one's own and other people's physical and mental wellbeing."

II. The road shall be for you a means of communion between people and not of mortal harm.

"Therefore, through strict observance of the Highway Code, everyone should be committed to creating a 'road culture' based on widespread understanding of everyone's rights and duties and behaviour consistent with its implications."

III. Courtesy, uprightness and prudence will help you deal with unforeseen events.

"When driving without the requisite conditions (for example, carelessly, or lacking the necessary capacities), one endangers life and goods, which presupposes infringement of moral law, due to the voluntary nature of the act. For a bad effect to be imputable it must be foreseeable and the agent must have the possibility of avoiding it, as in the case of manslaughter caused by a drunken driver."

IV. Be charitable and help your neighbour in need, especially victims of accidents.

"Moral law prohibits exposing anyone to grave danger, without serious grounds, as well as refusing assistance to a person in danger. In addition, the Catechism of the Catholic Church teaches that `the virtue of temperance disposes us to avoid every kind of excess: the abuse of food, alcohol, tobacco or medicine. Those incur grave guilt who, by drunkenness or a love of speed, endanger their own and other's safety on the road, at sea, or in the air'."

V. Cars shall not be for you an expression of power and domination, and an occasion of sin.

"The fact that a driver's personality is different from a pedestrian's personality should be taken into account. When driving a vehicle, special circumstances may lead us to behave in an unsatisfactory and even barely human manner."

VI. Charitably convince the young and not so young not to drive when they are not in a fitting condition to do so.

"A person's behaviour is characterised by the capacity to control and master oneself, and not be carried away by impulses. The responsibility for cultivating this capacity for self-control and mastery is important, both in terms of a driver's psychology and the serious damage that may be caused to the life and wellbeing of persons and goods in case of accident."

VII. Support the families of accident victims.

"In respecting justice, road users should provide reparations for any damage caused to others. If, according to their conscience, they are responsible for such damage, they should do their best until the victim, or close relatives, have been adequately compensated. If the harm is produced completely unintentionally, they should still feel obliged, in accordance with their conscience, to compensate the victim in compliance with the law, and in case of dispute and tria l, they should respect the sentence."

VIII. Bring guilty motorists and their victims together, at the appropriate time, so that they can undergo the liberating experience of forgiveness.

"We should also encourage the families of victims to forgive their aggressors, as a sign, albeit difficult, of human and Christian maturity. In this process of forgiveness, it is useful, even necessary, to have spiritual support from a chaplain or pastoral agent and to celebrate an appropriate Day of Pardon."

IX. On the road, protect the more vulnerable party.

"Travellers lives should not be endangered by incorrect and careless manoeuvres that may cause harm to both passengers and pedestrians. The word `love' is used here to mean the many forms taken by genuine charity, namely respect, courtesy, consideration, etc. Good drivers courteously give way to pedestrians, are not offended when overtaken, allow someone who wishes to drive faster to pass and do not seek revenge."

X. Feel responsible towards others.

"Individuals have an ethical obligation to respect traffic regulations and, therefore, they should have knowledge, gained from training aimed at deepening their sense of responsibility. The role of the family in road safety education is clear and vital, and is part of the experience that must be conveyed to children for a good general education."

So there. You've been warned.