THE MESSAGE
The Government cries "what more can we do, drivers are not listening"
The police aren’t allowed to cry out enough
The drivers cry only when they are caught and
Innocent people who bury their loved ones cry forever
So why does this death and destruction keep happening?
WHY IS THE MESSAGE NOT GETTING THROUGH?
It keeps happening because we have all been brainwashed to believe that there ‘isn’t anymore that can be done” and that ‘these things happen’ and that ‘the poor driver didn’t mean it’
It keeps happening because despite what the government tells us, drivers ARE still drinking and driving, speed cameras are NOT stopping people from speeding, and most drivers are oblivious to the road toll. It only happens to other people.
It keeps happening because new drivers are taught less, because roads are poor, because cars are more powerful, because the cycle of drunks and petrol heads passing on their arrogance hasn’t been broken.
It keeps happening because the message that is sent to the public when yet another poor innocent soul is horrifically killed is that their life isn’t even worth removing the driver who caused their death from the roads.
Drivers are rarely arrested and bailed and it is even rarer for them to be kept in custody. The message sent is that to die on the roads is unavoidable and acceptable.
Culpable Driving is supposed to be treated like manslaughter. It is manslaughter with a car. It has the same proof of guilt or innocence as a manslaughter charge.
If you killed with a gun would you still be able to keep that gun? If you killed with a knife would you be able to keep the knife? Would they be handed back to you after the police work was finished?
Would you be free to get on with your life uninterrupted and just receive a summons a few months later for killing someone? Of course not, you would, at least, be bailed if you were not held in custody.
The message to the public is that it is not acceptable to use guns and knives to harm others. The same message is not sent about drivers who kill.
The message sent is that it must have been an accident so therefore the driver shouldn’t be immediately penalized, even though the driver was drunk/drugged and/or speeding. Even though the law says it is a crime to behave this way, the driver doesn’t always receive the same legal action that another person who had committed manslaughter would.
This has to change for the correct message to be heard to prevent road trauma. If it continues as it is now nothing will change.
Allowing drivers to stay on the road supports the myth that deaths on the road are unavoidable and not the culpable drivers fault.
We have to demand that drivers who risk our lives are removed from the road and these drivers must receive the message loud and clear that their conduct will not be tolerated.
The public must know this is happening for the right message to be sent. This is not the message the public receives now.
The Government must also stop presuming that the public know how many and why people die on the roads.
Not everybody reads newspapers, listens to the radio or wants to know about road trauma. The TV news may have a quick 10second grab about yet another senseless road death, but it is only the most extreme that makes the news. Many road deaths are never covered. The cause of all road deaths needs to be reported.
WACD wants every driver to receive a letter from the Governemnt every three months, personally addressed to them as a driver on Victorian roads, explaining the current road toll and the cause of each fatality. This would ensure that every driver is aware of the road toll and its causes and would also highlight to every driver causes that are not being addressed satisfactorily by the government to prevent road trauma.
The message that is sent to drivers who break the road laws is that it is a minor matter and as long as a fine is paid drivers can go on their merry way. The game is not to get caught
MAYBE THE MESSAGE IS GETTING THROUGH
BUT IT IS THE WRONG MESSAGE
