Submitted by CedricHughes on Tue, 06/03/2008 - 10:47
“No words for such a tragedy” is one of the latest entries in the online guest book for Alexa Renee Middelaer, a four year old girl killed by a speeding car that lost control and left the road crashing first into the child and her aunt. They were reportedly on a wide gravel shoulder next to a fenced horse corral, feeding the horses. The vehicle then hit the child’s grandparents in their parked vehicle, before plowing into the utility pole that finally stopped it. It happened in Delta in the 4300 block of 64th Street, a long straight rural collector road with a 50-km/hr speed limit leading up to Highway 10. The speeding car was northbound. It was 5 pm on Saturday May 17th, and visibility was good. In addition to the death of Alexa, the others involved, including the driver, were injured. The horse Alexa had been feeding was also injured.
About the driver, we yet know very little: news reports say that she is 56 years old and from Delta, that she was issued a 24-hour driving suspension, and that alcohol and speed were factors. When we learn more, however, this will only compound the tragedy and not make it more bearable or even understandable.
Every BC driver, licensed or learner, young or old, knows about speed limits. Every driver has experienced the learning curve: driving slowly while first learning to coordinate steering and pedal control and then gradually becoming more skilful and more used to speed. This mastery is then quickly overtaken by the need to be vigilant about staying within the speed limit. The traffic flow is often over the limit, sometimes as much as 20 km/hr over. Reportedly, from 2001 to 2005 driving at an unsafe speed caused, on average, 38% of all the traffic fatalities and 63% of all the traffic injuries in British Columbia. Simply put, this tragedy reminds us, yet again, that speed kills.
Every BC driver, licensed or learner, young or old knows about the dangers of impaired driving. Driving safely requires a wide range of complex mental and physical skills. People are fit to drive when they are rested, alert, and calm—physically, mentally and emotionally able to focus on their driving to execute the necessary skills and control their behaviour. Conversely they are unfit to drive when they have consumed alcohol or drugs, when they are under stress from emotional upset or fatigue, and when they are distracted by cell phone usage, eating or drinking, putting on makeup, changing a CD or radio channel, reading—these possibilities are endless.
The law has defined a measurable limit for alcohol consumption beyond which it deems a person unfit to drive. In fact, however, studies show measurable effects from any level of alcohol consumption especially on behaviour. This tragedy reminds us, again, of Leonard Evans’ observation in the book “Traffic Safety”that: “The increasing role of alcohol with increasing crash severity suggests that alcohol’s main influence is changing driver behaviour towards accepting higher risks and choosing higher speeds.”
Bookmark/Search this post with:
