As the Easter weekend begins, hundreds of people will wake up with hearts still shattered from losing a loved one this time last year.
At least 162 people died on our roads last Easter, and instead of gasping in horror at that awful statistic we were told to celebrate that the number was down from the previous year’s 235.
Both those numbers are shameful, as are the numbers from every Easter before that.
The problem is we call these tragic incidents “car accidents” when most of the time they are not accidents at all.
An organisation called Road Peace puts it perfectly: “It’s a crash, not an accident. End the language of denial.” Rightly so, the organisation argues the term car accident or road accident “exemplifies society’s tolerance of road danger”. It means drivers are not “held accountable” for their actions, and it is seen as a matter of chance or bad luck.
But globally, and particularly in South Africa, high road death rates are by and large preventable.
If people did not drive drunk, far fewer people would be killed. If cars were properly maintained and drivers got enough rest, we would not see the alarming statistics — each one of which represents an extended family and circle of friends shattered by the phone call nobody wants to get.
If drivers are vigilant and pedestrians walk where they are supposed to and children and adults are buckled in, we would see the figures drop and realise how preventable these so-called accidents really are.
Road Peace also points out that we do not use the language of accidents with trains and planes.
In those cases, we speak of crashes, just as we should for the carnage on our roads.
Richard Matzopoulous from the South African Medical Research Council has lobbied for us moving away from the notion of road accidents and is quick to tell journalists they should rather speak of crashes or collisions.
He should know.
In one of his many studies on behavioural risks on South Africa roads he cites so many factors that one is hardly shocked that we see so many deaths.
These risks include substance abuse, aggressive driving, speeding, disobeying the rules, taking chances, fatigue, distractions and non-use of seatbelts and helmets, among other things.
The real problem underlying is that South Africans have become so desensitised to what should be harrowing that we take them as common and do not become outraged.
People dying wholesale on our roads — especially at Easter when so many of us head to religious, social and family gatherings — has become normalised.
And that should not be the case. It is common, but not normal.
So this coming weekend, when you head out from your home moved by the spirit of religion or fun or whatever gets you going, ask yourself this before you behave badly behind the wheel: would I want to be responsible for another person’s death and carry that with me for the rest of my life?
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