FRIDAY nights are spent at my desk, well beyond rush hour, keeping an eye out for major news our readers may need, in print or online.
Part of that overview involves checking a number of emergency traffic-related groups. These are not for general road closures because of a sporting event. They are crash notifications and requests for ambulances, firefighters or police to help. They are like a doomsday scroll for families or loved ones who don’t even know they are about to get some of the worst news of their lives.
Last Friday, a stretch on a major road had to be closed because one crash, involving three cars, became two when a vehicle hit an RTI vehicle. Soon after, a truck hit an ambulance at the crash site, then a bakkie hit another RTI vehicle and a metro police vehicle, and five other cars crashed into the chaos. It was raining, but really?
The groups’ feeds go on and on, a stream of people not paying attention, being distracted, unwilling to match their driving skill level to conditions, often ignorant about road safety in general or believing they’re Lewis Hamilton. Or just plain stupid.
And it’s not even Annual Carnage Season yet.
Every year, it’s the same. Like the sword of Damocles hanging over us. I can’t help thinking of the phone calls that deliver the news that a loved one is in hospital or that some gifts will never be opened, one or more chairs around the dining table will never be filled, that poignant reminder of loss when others are happily celebrating. That grief is the real gift that keeps giving, on every anniversary, birthday, Christmas or holiday season. It really doesn’t go away, just mutates so you don’t puddle up every second, or when a sudden memory sideswipes you.
The World Health Organisation said this week that of the 4.4 million annual injury-related deaths, about 1 in 3 were from road traffic crashes, 1 in 6 from suicide, 1 in 9 from homicide and 1 in 61 from war and conflict. Between 20 million and 50 million were severely injured or disabled in road crashes. Men under 25 accounted for 73% of these fatalities.
The UN/WHO’s Decade of Action for Road Safety, proclaimed by the UN General Assembly in 2020, hopes to prevent at least 50% of road deaths and injuries by 2030.
There may be a global campaign, but until every road user takes responsibility for their own behaviour, the men and women of the emergency services will still be pulling thousands of torn and broken bodies out of wrecks. And dead children who have not been buckled up in safe car seats.
It’s hard to imagine how they keep themselves together to do what they do while everyone else is tugging at Christmas crackers or having some jolly family down-time. Or during the rest of the year.
If you as a driver can’t think of anyone else’s safety, please think about whoever you care for who will be heartbroken if you don’t arrive alive: your parents, grandparents, siblings, friends ‒ even your cat or dog. Get where you’re going safely, for everybody’s sake.
- Lindsay Slogrove is the news editor
The Independent on Saturday