By Heather Carston Editor
TRAVELLING back from Taumarunui recently, we came the closest, in 45 years of driving, that we have ever come to a head-on collision. It unfolded almost in slow motion. We were travelling at about 95km/h on SH4, third in a line of about five cars. As we approached to within about 200 metres of a crested corner, a dark blue sedan travelling so fast we were unable to get the make of it, shot past us and I remarked to my husband that if someone was going to come around the corner, there could be trouble. And so it proved. ALMOST FATAL HESITATION There would have been less than 100 metres – and the offending driver in the blue car almost fatally hesitated while still in the other lane. If not for the fact my husband had braked much earlier in anticipation, and the car in front of us had done the same, there simply would have been nowhere for the driver to go. As it was, the head-on, which would have happened at a colossal speed, was missed by mere centimetres. The mess of that potential accident would have involved us all – and whom would that driver have been fully responsible for killing with the actions they decided to embark upon? SIMPLY STUPID In travelling on most roads these days, and particularly in the King Country/Taranaki areas, where a combination of repeated weather bombs, slips, and skimpy road maintenance on unstable foundations creates a compounding dangerous surface, this kind of driving simply is stupid. New Zealanders have an inexplicable need to be in front. To “win” even when there is no race in sight – other than perhaps to their own funeral. It left me thinking how many families would have lost with this if the collision had happened – because someone surely would have died. What is it we have to do to educate people about not only driving within the speed limit, but also driving to the conditions? Do we perhaps graduate newly licensed drivers to using cars of 1000cc or less? Or do we ensure repeat speedsters – because they are of any age group, not just the young – are also limited to very small rubber-band motorised cars too? Until they learn, as motorbike riders have long had to do, to use well the lesser capabilities before they graduate to bigger ones? As we head into the silly seasons, starting with Labour Weekend on Saturday, all I can ask is please – have a thought for your whanau. You are not six foot and bullet-proof in your vehicle. WHY WE PUBLISH And this brings me to another thing. Sometimes, we take photos of accidents that have happened and like all media, we publish them, which being in open public space, we have the legal right to do. The reason we do this is in the hope that someone, somewhere who is a little too lead-footed for their own good, will look at the resultant mess and think, “Hmmm. Maybe I should ease a bit off that pedal.” And that is the reason we publish them. Not to hurt the families. Not to provide rubbernecking opportunities. But to remind each and every one of us that for every action, there is a reaction. And all too often these days, one that can reverberate for a lifetime.
