Senseless and shocking

Few can fail to be moved by the stories of tragedy on our roads in the past few days.

Close to home, the story of the Shortlands has been shocking, especially as the public learned more about this young family. Parents Jesse and Samie Shortland, both 28, were among three to die in a head-on collision on the Dipton-Winton Highway on Sunday night. Miraculously, their two young children - 2-year-old son Heath and 8-month-old daughter Skylar - survived and were pulled from their car seats by strangers and emergency services personnel who came to their aid. One does not have to be a parent to sympathise with their plight.

It transpired the couple had been returning from the funeral of Jesse's father in Hokitika. The couple had been due to celebrate their third wedding anniversary. Jesse was a New Zealander, but they had been living in Australia for some time, and only recently moved to Invercargill, apparently following Samie's parents here to begin a new life in the South. They were reportedly happy and wishing they had moved years ago.

How cruel, senseless and shocking. What a waste. How does a family ever recover from such loss?

A long way away, in Germany, another young person will be being mourned, too. Twenty-two-year-old Marina Liebl had been in the country only a week and was starting her New Zealand adventure in the South. It should have been a trip of a lifetime. Instead, she was the third fatality that night.

The awful southern scene was mirrored in the North Island. A head-on crash near Taupo has claimed the lives of four people, including a 5-year-old boy. A 10-month-old baby girl is in hospital fighting for her life, having lost her mother. Seven others remain in hospital, several of them in critical condition.

The stories demonstrate the brutal truth of our road toll. These are not numbers, but people. People with friends, families, colleagues. People with hopes and dreams, with a range of abilities and interests, with a place in their communities. Parents and children with their whole lives in front of them.

For every one of those people who die on our roads, there are dozens affected by the loss and trauma. There are also those who have been injured and those who survive physically unscathed. There are countless strangers affected, too: members of the public, emergency services personnel, victim support staff, health and mental health practitioners.

The burden on individuals, families and society is enormous; the shock, sadness and waste overwhelming.

If there can be any silver lining amid such heartbreak, it is the outpouring of love on display. Communities have rallied to help, as have strangers from around the country. Practical, emotional and financial support is essential. It will take a community to raise these orphaned children, and a community to comfort the bereaved.

Amid such chaos is a sense of futility. Is this what we have to endure? Is it really not possible to stop such dreadful crashes occurring?

To some extent, the answer is no. Humans make mistakes. Establishing the cause (investigations into both crashes are being conducted by police) will not bring back loved ones. Yet if lessons can be learned, they must, hard as that may be to bear, too.

Our roads are particularly unforgiving. Technological advances may provide some solutions and protections, but from years of records, we know the familiar culprits: speed, seat belts, alcohol. We must heed the safety messages and encourage others to do so.

And we must make the most of life, of time with family and friends and loved ones, because accidents do happen and life can - and does - change in an instant.

 

Comments

The AA (Radio Live) comments that post MVA tests reveal drug use in a high proportion of drivers involved in accidents.

There is no standard roadside drugs test.