I can think of very few events in life that would be more painful than having to bury your own child (or children) and with that in mind, I offer my sincerest and heartfelt condolences to Jason Alexander in Christchurch, who lost both of his daughters, aged 15 and 17, to a horrible, fiery car crash on Christchurch’s Port Hills.
“Teenagers Tayla Alexander, 17, and her sister Sunmara Alexander, 15 at the time, were in a car reportedly driven by a 19-year-old man, when it crashed in the Port Hills about 11pm on November 27.”
I can also appreciate the sentiments expressed by Mr Alexander that he doesn’t want to see any other parent go through the nightmare he has had to face.
“Alexander presented a petition, signed by 6400 people, to the council calling for more sturdy barriers along Summit Rd.
Alexander also wants the road closed on weekend nights to prevent “needless racing or speeding” around the hills.”
Alexander said he was not doing this only as a grieving father. “I am doing this because unfortunately our younger generation are using this road as a place to burn rubber at the top and then race down the bottom with undoubtedly bald tyres and it’s not just a few, it’s many.
I am also doing this for the safety of everyone who uses this road, today tomorrow and in the future.”
“The speed limit on the road from Godley Head to Gebbies Pass Rd was reduced last year from 70kmh and 100kmh, to 60kmh, but Alexander said it was clear the new limit was not being enforced.”
According to the “Stuffed” report, Christchurch Mayor Lianne Dalziel has told the grieving father that the council will do all it can to help in his quest to make Summit Rd safer.
I have a great deal of sympathy for Mr Alexander and the well-meaning 6400 people who signed his petition. Mayor Dalziel? Not so much.
Saying that the council will do all it can to make Summit Road safer is just nonsense. You don’t have a magic wand Ms Dalziel and where does your fairy tale nonsense begin and end. Whatever interventions you can deliver will only move the problem, not solve it. Today Summit Road. Tomorrow – what will it be? Will council do “all it can” to make motorways safer? Will council do “all it can” to make ALL Christchurch suburban streets safer? Will you also deal with natural disasters? Oh, and of course climate change?
There’s no silver bullet and it’s wrong to suggest improved barriers, closing roads, reducing limits or other interventions will do anything more than make the proponents feel better and move the problem elsewhere.
Stationary vehicles don’t have crashes. Is that where we’re headed?
Youngsters see themselves as bullet proof. It’s part of growing up. We did it when we were younger. Despite all the obstacles we’ve tried to put in place, they’re still doing it. We can’t keep them off the monkey bars, the swings or the seesaws. We do the best we can to guide them but they will do their own thing in their own way and in their own time. Sometimes they will make mistakes. Sometimes those mistakes will be tragic. That, sadly, is how life is.
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