Beware the onslaught of snarling giants

Press, 31 October 1983, Page 8

Beware the onslaught of snarling giants

Watch out. The trucks are coming. The restriction that stopped trucks carrying goods further than 150 km will be lifted tomorrow. As a result, our roads will become more lethal than ever.

It is strange this should happen in a time when people care so much. Scientists and surgeons devote lifetimes to solving mysteries behind diseases that strike a tiny percentage of humanity. Thousands gathered in rage when Springboks toured the country. Women rose up in anger against nuclear war. They gathered in centres large and small, pleading for their families should Mr Reagan’s finger get itchy on the trigger.

Politicians are yet again examining their consciences to work out which stand on abortion will lose them fewest votes. People feel so strongly about foetuses they cram politicians’ mail boxes and letters-to-the editor columns with their wrath.

Yet all those people who “care” are silently and, apparently, painlessly signing away lives when they accept the oncoming plague of snarling giants on the roads.

No-one knows how many will die as a direct result. There will be many. The trucks will carry freight previously run on railway lines far away from towns and pedestrians. Each one will hold about as much as a single railway waggon. Set hundreds of railway waggons free, charging through city centres, hurtling along country roads and it’s Truck Country. Death Country, for many. Truckies hold a reputation as considerate drivers. But the new law will put a lot of raw, relatively inexperienced people behind the

wheels of big machines.

A young macho-man combined with a powerful new truck and a tight schedule are an explosive cocktail. Especially when he knows little guys are the ones who get hurt, not him. The Government has proved legislation can lower road tolls. Compulsory seat belts and crash helmets helped reduce deaths by hundreds a year. Now the nation is standing back and watching while politicians turn up the volume on the death switch.

I think people should stop using the expression “road toll.” There is something distant and impersonal about it. The words are too easy to say. They tumble off newsreaders’ tongues along with “inflation” and “unemployment.” It is not till a member of your own family becomes part of that “road toll” that you realise what the words really mean. They mean consciously teaching yourself to set the table for one less person every meal time; driving past the cemetery gates wondering why the person you love is there; realising the only thing that will truly stop the hurt will be your own death.

Those aren’t things they talk about when another fatal accident turns up in the news.

Long-distance journeys ; have already become more ' arduous because there are more trucks to weave around. It will get worse.

Given time-pressure, ; tiredness or a flash of - temper, motorists will be ; taking unwise risks to get past lumbering giants. When I lived in Britain 10 ' years ago, queues of huge, - foul-smelling lorries made : driving a nightmare. It is more than ironic that the British are now reversing the trend by encouraging freight off the roads on to . rail. ;

During the next few months, our own rail tracks will become less busy while the nightmare settles on New Zealand roads. It seems such a waste to cast aside a network of safe, well-functioning rail transport; to spend precious overseas dollars on smart new trucks; to inflict costly wear and tear on road surfaces.

The greatest waste of all is the one they don’t mention very often. Nobody likes to talk about pain, suffering and grief. They just let it happen.