NEWS OPINION AND ANALYSIS by
JOHN RYAN Traffic bingles
TALK about some wild weather in town over the past week or so.
Hopefully we’ll see a few nice days over Easter so the tourism and hospitality businesses can cash in on what’s traditionally a very busy time for the city and the broader region.
The wet weather and unsettled conditions saw a few car crashes around and about including one bingle where a motorist apparently backed out into oncoming traffic outside the DRTCC just after 5.30pm on Sunday, April 10.
As is usually the case around this part of the world, there were loads of police and rescue but thankfully no-one seriously injured.
Father/daughter firefighting duo keeping up with the Jones’
HERE’S a pretty impressive story: a Narromine nurse who grew up watching her dad race off to fires, car crashes and other emergencies at all times of the day and night has joined him as a retained firefighter at Narromine’s NSW Fire and Rescue 401 Station.
Skye Jones obviously took note of the strong sense of community ethics implanted in her daily life by dad Ewen. It’s great to see that sort of example and then a generational follow-through.
It’s certainly a first for 401 Station as well: a dad and daughter duo.
Well done, Skye, and good luck in both of your important careers, both nursing and firefighting/ rescue!
I’ll leave this item to be signed off by Skye’s mum: “Rescue 401 Station is lucky to have you. We are so unbelievably proud of you our gorgeous girl and we love you more than you know.”
Car torched? A POWERPOLE was enveloped in
flames at about 3am on April 6 when a red Holden Calais Sedan was found well alight on Fitzroy Street in a driveway just outside a block of flats near the Tamworth Street intersection in South Dubbo.
NSW Fire and Rescue was in attendance and extinguished the blaze.
Police are treating the fire as suspicious so if anyone has any information as to how this may have occurred, please call the cops.
Woo up, slow down
EDDIE Woo, Australia’s most famous maths teacher, is the face of a new campaign to encourage drivers to slow down on our roads, using his love of numbers to explain the potentially devastating impact of speeding.
The hope is that Mr Woo’s creative style in the social media campaign would resonate with drivers of all ages to demonstrate in practical and engaging ways just why slowing down is important. There are messages such as “the faster you go, the longer it takes to stop” and the campaign utilises three short videos to illustrate just how crucial it is to stick to the speed limit.
In a crash between a car and pedestrian there’s a 40 per cent risk of death to the pedestrian at 40 kilometres per hour but a 90 per cent risk of death at 50 kilometres per hour and with speeding the biggest killer on our roads, authorities are hoping this campaign will help everyone to get to their destinations safely over the Easter break.
Mr Woo said the simulations demonstrate how even small increases in speed can have devastating results.
“You don’t need to be a mathematician to realise that an increase in speed means longer stopping times,” Mr Woo said.
“At 60 kilometres per hour, it takes more than the length of an Olympic swimming pool to come to a complete stop.
“Those few kilometres really could mean the difference between stopping safely or not stopping at all, your speed decides the outcome.”
Stay safe.
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