STEVE WALLACE on road tragedies and solutions
Why do you think our society is so complacent about traffic deaths and serious injuries?” This question was asked of me by Barbara, a regular reader, in an email response to a recent column concerning the topic of traffic collisions.
It is a fair question, but sadly, a definitive answer escapes me. Here is some information and possible observations as to the problem and possible solutions.
Barbara goes on to say that about 35 people are killed and 500 are hospitalized each month because of vehicle crashes in British Columbia alone (2012 year stats). Despite these alarming figures, there does not seem to be the same type of reporting to fit the circumstance. Every time there is a murder, the media are all too aware and dedicated to informing the public of the running tally of murders for the given year. Where is the same reporting diligence for traffic fatalities?
Barbara’s point is simple. The public has much less of a chance of being murdered in Canada than being killed in a vehicle crash.
Barbara asked another question. She wanted to know why authorities are so resistant to making changes that would challenge the status quo of our dismal traffic-fatality record. She pointedly asked why there is not a dedicated traffic enforcement division in every jurisdiction of our province, regardless of whether we have a municipal or provincially contracted police department.
She even suggested driver retesting each decade. This idea is not new, but it would be a better idea to re-test those with several infractions and blameable crashes before getting started on the law-abiding average driver.
Barbara’s email to me was preceded by another similar one by a fellow named Trevor. The first sentence of his email is as follows: “In the last 24 hours, the equivalent of 10 jumbo jets crashed on planet Earth (3,500 souls) and it never even made the headlines.” That is how many people he estimates were killed in vehicle crashes worldwide. The most striking comparison appeared in his next sentence. “That is a World Trade Center tragedy every day for 365 days of the year.”
I really am not in a position to verify or dispute his figures. Suffice it to say Trevor is making a salient point. Vehicle fatalities are at epidemic levels. He says it is not that we do not care, but rather we have become accustomed to the situation. We are somewhat numb to the news reports, unless they involve our immediate family or circle of friends and neighbours.
Both of these people wrote to me in the past week. They are from different towns on Vancouver Island. To the best of my knowledge, they do not know one another. Nonethe- less, they have hit a nerve, at the same time provincial authorities are asking for input on such things as distracted driving and highway construction projects, specifically the biggest provincial bottleneck at the McKenzie-Trans-Canada intersection.
The fact that I received both of the emails in the same week may or may not have significance. Perhaps it was part of a New Year’s resolution by both of them. Whatever the motivation, there is a need for a renewed, targeted, effective and all-encompassing initiative to reduce the car carnage on B.C. roads. Only when the public demands it will there be real and effective action taken to address the problem of traffic fatali- ties and serious injuries.
Thank you, Barbara and Trevor, for your emails.