Mackay road toll: 17 deaths is too much grief for one region

They are easy questions to answer but for some heartbreaking reason, we are not doing anything about putting it into practice. And the result is the constant state of mourning our region is in.

When will it end? What will it take? Why is it happening? How can it stop?

Who will step up and be the one to say, enough is enough?

That last one is the easiest to answer but from the sheer devastation we have seen on our roads over the past month or so, obviously the hardest to enact.

I’m talking about our road toll number – 17.

But it is not just a number.

It is the number of families grieving, friend circles shattered, communities reeling.

The fundamentals of journalism answer the who, what, when, why and how.

Mackay road toll.

Let’s consider that in the prism of road safety. What will it take?

Well, isn’t it time we all stopped and considered what we are doing every time we get behind the wheel, head out on a highway, or hop on a motorbike?

Why is it happening? Because we are not doing the above.

Clearly, we are not.

How can it stop? We need to stop ignoring the police message that following the Fatal Five will actually save lives.

Wear your seatbelt, don’t drive tired, drunk or under the influence of drugs, don’t speed, don’t use your phone.

These are basic but lifesaving things to do.

As I said, easy to say but clearly hard for us to enact.

When will it end?

It needs to end now.

Originally published as Mackay road toll: 17 deaths is too much grief for one region