... old life

“On average, four people are killed and ninety are seriously injured every day on Australia’s roads. The economic cost of road accidents in Australia is enormous—estimated at $27 billion each year—and the social impacts are devastating (Australian Transport Council 2011).”

This was the note contained within the Heart Foundation report “Move It: Australia’s Healthy Transport Options” provided earlier this year. The report was not really about the real circumstances to people injured or the reason why police, fire engines and ambulances attended the road incidents. There was no report about the injured children and the reason why they are in the car. There was no report about just why people have apparently unusual accidents.

Dr Lyn Roberts AM wrote: “Physical activity improves the chances of living longer with less disease. It protects against heart disease and stroke, as well high blood pressure and high blood cholesterol.” Perhaps that may be wonderful, but it doesn’t stand up to inspection of the usual seemingly okay person who drove their car off the road and caused the followers to call the help. Police, tow trucks, fire engine with crew, ambulances, more police. And us, little old people who might have some less physical activity with less protection against our very own heart disease and stroke.

Yet, this time, the woman who drove could have come under her own satellite, and driven off the edge of the road and into a tree. No alcohol. Could she have been internally ill?  Who would know anything?

Talking to this woman’s granddaughter, who had been inside the car and rescued whilst we waited for the fire engine which would cut her grandmother out, it seemed that her Nan had offered her love and attention while her daughter was overseas. No spendthrift. No failure. Nan looked after her two grandsons as well. Today was a break on the care of the grandsons, who, yet, wouldn’t have any idea. This accident seemed so very unfair.

Have you ever had an accident like this one? You have just driven off the road, no reason for doing that, nothing which has showed up to prove some medical problems? Would you do that out of fun? Bored? Tired? Do you know what caused it?

Neither do I. My own assumption is that this particular accident is a result from something inside the driver which turned her off. Unknown. Unfelt. Until she left the road and hit a tree and my friend and I had experienced some smoke from under the car motor, so getting her granddaughter out of the back seat was essential.

We were only at the site for a fairly short time this afternoon. After the police, fire and ambulance people turned up, we left. But the short hold of this accident has given us some thoughts. What goes on between this grandmother and granddaughter when they went off the road? What about ambulances which will take them to separate hospitals? Who has told the ambulance or police about the day care for the grandsons? What were we doing to stop any fires in the car? Who was helping us? What was all the traffic thinking of in this situation? Was anyone careful?

I had been 6.5 weeks in PA Hospital after my own stroke. Today I found that very obvious as the possibility for a cause of some medical problem with the driver in front of me when she left the road. And yet the police, the ambulance people, the fire engineers, the tow truck people, everyone who attended this accident have not, yet, had their own injury from some internal problem.

Perhaps we should be very grateful about that.

The Australian Transport Council in 2011 said: “The economic cost of road accidents in Australia is enormous—estimated at $27 billion each year—and the social impacts are devastating.” Today’s accident would have cost a whole heap as everyone who helped out – police, fire engineers, ambulance people, tow truckies – would still get paid, their gear gets used, the time is not diarised.

Are the social impacts devastating? Yes, they are. This accident, today, would not have been overly paid, and yet the driver had her own social personality. So did her granddaughter. So did her relations.

I hope that social impacts can be repaired, if the person is still alive. Perhaps the end of a life is a different story.