I have just returned home from the launch of a photography exhibition organised by our Jacki Dawson, our Road Safety Co-Ordinator, called "Cross Roads" by John Robinson. (Page 3 of link)
All of the photos feature white crosses on the side of the road.
I was lucky to have a chance to chat with John before the exhibition, and as you can imagine, after five years of touring with the photos, he had a lot of stories from people who had been to see his work.
So I told him about the story of a very close friend of mine who lost someone very close to her in a crash. He honoured my friend by echoing my words during his presentation at the launch, saying that we must remember when seeing the crosses on the roadside that each one of them represents a family who Christmas will never be the same for again, because there will always be someone missing. Someone who should have been there.
And for this we are all responsible. Every needless death on the road is a loss to all of us. And that whenever we see one of those white crosses we should ask ourselves, "What can I do to make sure this dosen't happen again?" Whether it means easing off on the gas a bit, checking all your passengers have their seatbelts on, passing on that third drink, or the bravest thing of all - being a passenger and having the balls to ask a driver to slow down!
Police, Council, Traffic Controllers, Traffic Engineers and Construction workers - there are a lot of people working really hard to keep you safe on the road. I deal with them everyday, and regardless what you think, when someone dies on our roads, it's not business anymore - they ALL take it personally.
But no matter how hard these people work, it all comes down to you being a responsible driver and passenger.
