KILLER LURKS IN ALL OF US

SENIOR Gold Coast cop Dave Cuskelly makes a telling point, in our report on hooning today, how the remorse of a killer driver means nothing to the dead and their grieving families.

“If they could hit pause and rewind the moment again...” he says, explaining that in every instance the drivers wish they could go back and change their behaviour.

Then there is the human face to road tragedy – the maimed victims and the shattered family members like CARS spokeswoman Bobbie Henry, who 20 years after her daughter’s death still melts down in despair at her loss.

As Acting Chief Superintendent Cuskelly says, why don’t these drivers contemplate the terrible possibilities before they fire up their motors? Why don’t they think?

Maybe the safety aspect of driverless cars has a lot going for it, despite reports of a handful of tragic instances when an on-board computer failed to recognise a human on the road ahead.

At least driverless cars won’t do burnouts, terrorise neighbourhoods and intentionally veer across three lanes of the M1 or deliberately drift around corners and roundabouts in suburbia. In such instances, those on-board computers under trial at the moment have significantly more intelligence than the amoeba-brained idiots who are not only putting lives at risk on the public roads, but are now videoing their exploits, putting them on social media and apparently being applauded for it.

Eleven thousand followers of some bunch who call themselves Mexican Hoon Cartel ... seriously?

But from what Acting Chief Supt Cuskelly suggests, even those badly behaved drivers can be educated through experience.

Unfortunately, in too many cases they had to kill someone to see the light.

The bulletproof mindset does not apply just to hoons though. It affects us all.

Police are determined to track down the so-called cartel, but the message of senior officers today about thinking first rather than regretting actions later should make every motorist take stock.

Even with an exemplary driving record, one critical moment of inattention is all it takes to plough headlong into tragedy.