THIS week Fairfax SA’s mastheads, including the Port Lincoln Times, kick off week two of our drive.arrive road safety campaign, which aims to drive the message home about being careful on our roads, especially in the lead up to Christmas and throughout the festive season.
Last week our first week of the campaign focused on a family which included two little girls who are now growing up without a mother after a road trauma incident at Cowell 12 months ago.
This week, Times senior journalist Billie Harrison has spoken to the region’s ‘top cop’ about the impact road trauma has on police and the wider community.
South Australia Police Eyre and Western Local Service Area Superintendent Andrew Thiele believes that “the hardest job as a police officer is delivering a death message – not the fight in the pub or the armed offender with a gun”.
Because, police are facing real people, with real grief, not running on adrenaline as a situation unfolds.
Their job is one of the toughest any of us could ever do, alongside other emergency service workers.
For that, we owe them a great deal.
But we also owe it to ourselves to pay attention on the roads and, in line with our campaign: drive and arrive.
Superintendent Thiele said that “risky driving behaviour like drink and drug driving, not wearing a seatbelt, talking on a mobile phone or not paying attention could lead to your family having a vacant seat at the Christmas table”.
None of us want that.
We need to wake up and be aware of the ‘fatal five’ – distraction, speeding, failure to wear seatbelts, driving while under the influence of drugs and alcohol, and being alert to dangerous road users.
As a country person, I’m used to spending a lot of time in the car.
Drives of between four and seven hours have, in the past, been quite usual for me.
I’m sure many other EP drivers are no different and there would be many of us who have jumped in the car when we’re not feeling 100 per cent and could do with a bit more sleep.
This festive season, make a promise to yourselves to buckle up, call a taxi if needed, and plan trips accordingly.
It’s just not worth the alternative.
Kaitlyn Fasso-Opie, Port Lincoln Times editor