The most dangerous job we have

This Easter, think of what price you are willing to pay, writes Garry Bailey

IT’S the most dangerous thing most Tasmanians do in their lives. And they do it almost every day.

Last year 303 Tasmanians suffered the consequences of dicing with death, with 36 paying the ultimate price. So far this year 11 have died and another 62 have entered a world of pain and suffering — as have their families.

It’s called driving — yet it doesn’t feel dangerous.

We sit in our steel cocoon where it’s warm and comfortable and sealed from the elements. If we have a five-star rated car it will have features designed to compensate for human error and protect us if we make a mistake. More highways are safer because of good design. Laws on seat belts, random breath testing and hooning, and lower speed limits on urban and gravel roads have had a significant impact.

Fewer Tasmanians are dying on our roads. And there are more vehicles than there were in the 1970s when the death toll on our roads was more than 100.

In fact, the increase in vehicle sales in Tasmania last year was the biggest in the nation. There are now 316,321 cars on our roads and, all up, 613,682 vehicles from motorcycles to trucks, to all manner of heavy machinery.

Just in case you haven’t noticed, it’s getting crowded out there. And it’s happening at a time when the pace and pressure of life is faster.

So, we answer the phone in the car because we just can’t wait. We text in the car. We stare at the sat-nav instead of the road. We fiddle with the radio. We turn to chat to our front-seat passenger or, god forbid, the talker in the back seat. The kids are grumpy, and the dog is sitting on your lap (yes, this does happen!). We drive too close to the car in front, we chop and change lanes to save a second or two. We think it’s OK to go just a

Your vehicle is still a potentially lethal piece of machinery and driving will always be the most dangerous thing you do in your life.

bit over the speed limit. We run red lights.

All the while doing the most dangerous thing most of us will ever do with considerably less skill than people who professionally put themselves in harm’s way.

And we risk death and lifechanging, and sometimes catastrophic, injury — to ourselves, to our family, to our friends and to the innocents coming the other way.

There is another risk, and that is complacency. Yes, we have made considerable inroads in to the death toll but there is another story emerging that shows we cannot let up for a second on the campaign to make our roads safer.

We strive, as we should, every Christmas and Easter, to have a death and injury-free holiday period.

A fatality-free period is always a huge relief to police and emergency services and the many dedicated people who work to make our roads safer.

But we must also be aware of the injury toll, and there’s nothing in those numbers, or the human damage, to celebrate. Serious injuries have stubbornly remained pretty much at the same level for the past decade. In 2008 there were 277 serious injuries; in 2017 there were 267. It dropped to 241 in 2012 and peaked at 298 in 2015 with the 10-year average 270.7.

This Easter every Tasmanian driver should strive to become the solution to road trauma, not the problem, and passengers should exercise their right to a safe journey as well.

If your driver is behaving badly, tell them. Demand that they slow down. Demand that they turn the phone off.

Every road crash is avoidable. All it takes is 100 per cent concentration,

patience, consideration for others and adherence to the road rules. You can’t be tired, you can’t drink and drive, you can’t take drugs and drive, you can’t use your mobile.

When you’re heading off on a break there is no need to rush, to speed, to dangerously overtake, or to drive without taking account of the road conditions. What’s an extra few minutes compared with a life lost or injuries that are lifechanging.

If you choose to ignore such common sense, you are saying that 30 or so deaths every year is the price you are prepared to pay to get from A to B. Would any Tasmanian countenance that? Of course not. Your vehicle is still a potentially lethal piece of machinery and driving will always be the most dangerous thing you do in your life.

Only you can lower the risk.