wyliepoon
Senior Member
Link to article
Car culture recklessly puts all of us at risk
ANDRé PICARD
From Thursday's Globe and Mail
November 8, 2007 at 9:50 AM EST
Three-year-old Bianca Leduc was mowed down on her babysitter's lawn while she was putting up Halloween decorations.
An out-of-control car plowed into another car, then careened through a fence. Bianca was pinned under the car and she was dead by the time firefighters could free her.
The incident in the bucolic Montreal suburb of ÃŽle-Perrot caused widespread outrage in Quebec.
Bianca's cherubic face has graced the cover of virtually every newspaper and figured prominently on the TV news during the past week, an image that reminded every parent that it could have just as easily been their child.
The public railed about police, complaining that there are too few on patrol.
The two teenaged drivers allegedly involved in the crash have been widely vilified. They face serious charges, including criminal negligence causing death.
According to news reports, the pair are alleged to have been driving through the suburban streets considerably faster than the 30-kilometre-an-hour speed limit.
Pierre Joyal, lawyer for one of the accused, said the young man is not a monster, but a victim of circumstance: "It was a tragic accident, but an accident all the same."
It is true that terrible things can happen to good people.
But, please, let us be gone with that vapid term "accident."
Motor vehicle crashes are, overwhelmingly, anything but accidents. They are often explained by the behaviours of drivers. They are usually the result of irresponsible, risky manoeuvres whose potential consequences are largely predictable and avoidable.
The broader tragedy here - beyond the death of little Bianca - is the sheer ordinariness of the actions that led to her being killed.
Speed limit signs have become purely decorative. Stop signs too. Running a red light is commonplace. Enforcement of the rules of the road is negligible.
We have laws to protect the public but, without enforcement, they are hollow words.
The deadly Halloween crash, whatever its cause, should remind us that police play an important role in public health - or at least they should.
Of course there are demands for more police. But throwing bodies at the problem is not a solution.
The real issue is priorities.
Enforcement of traffic laws is not a priority with our police forces, nor with their political masters.
Everybody wants to catch bad guys such as murderers and be hailed as a hero, not hand out tickets and be spat upon.
Politicians puff out their chests and talk about getting tough on crime, but they refuse to bolster the budgets of traffic squads or to implement sound public health measures such as photo radar.
There are almost 3,000 deaths in motor vehicle crashes in Canada each year, along with 18,000 debilitating injuries. By comparison, there are about 600 homicides.
In the wrong hands, a motor vehicle is a deadly weapon. That cars are a leading cause of death in Canada - among the biggest killers of young people - is no surprise.
Everything in our culture encourages the abuse rather than the responsible use of cars and trucks, from the driver's licence as coming-of-age ritual through to TV commercials that sell speed, the fawning admiration of professional race-car drivers and the mass marketing of vehicles able to travel in excess of 200 kilometres an hour.
Society itself is built around the car, and vehicles are the ultimate status symbol. What you drive is a rolling testament to your power, position and wealth.
And how we drive is symbolic of how we live: always in a hurry and all too often disdainful of others. Speed trumps civility, and individual pursuits trump collective ones.
Speed limits are for wimps. Stop signs are for losers. Beating the red is another challenge. The majority of drivers on the country's highways and byways could routinely be candidates for the little-used Criminal Code infraction: operating a motor vehicle in a manner that is dangerous to the public.
There is no need to rein in the motor-head impulse to hit the gas instead of the brakes because the odds of being caught are slim to nil.
We shun photo radar and red-light cameras - with the welcome exception of a few jurisdictions - saying they violate our civil rights.
The right to maim, to kill and to endanger the lives of our fellow citizens? Ah, freedom!
Even assuming the worst about them, the death of Bianca Leduc cannot be pinned solely on the actions of the two young men. They are, after all, products of our car culture.
Until that culture changes, the quiet carnage will continue unabated, and the bodies will continue to pile up.
Zoom, zoom, zoom.
Car culture recklessly puts all of us at risk
ANDRé PICARD
From Thursday's Globe and Mail
November 8, 2007 at 9:50 AM EST
Three-year-old Bianca Leduc was mowed down on her babysitter's lawn while she was putting up Halloween decorations.
An out-of-control car plowed into another car, then careened through a fence. Bianca was pinned under the car and she was dead by the time firefighters could free her.
The incident in the bucolic Montreal suburb of ÃŽle-Perrot caused widespread outrage in Quebec.
Bianca's cherubic face has graced the cover of virtually every newspaper and figured prominently on the TV news during the past week, an image that reminded every parent that it could have just as easily been their child.
The public railed about police, complaining that there are too few on patrol.
The two teenaged drivers allegedly involved in the crash have been widely vilified. They face serious charges, including criminal negligence causing death.
According to news reports, the pair are alleged to have been driving through the suburban streets considerably faster than the 30-kilometre-an-hour speed limit.
Pierre Joyal, lawyer for one of the accused, said the young man is not a monster, but a victim of circumstance: "It was a tragic accident, but an accident all the same."
It is true that terrible things can happen to good people.
But, please, let us be gone with that vapid term "accident."
Motor vehicle crashes are, overwhelmingly, anything but accidents. They are often explained by the behaviours of drivers. They are usually the result of irresponsible, risky manoeuvres whose potential consequences are largely predictable and avoidable.
The broader tragedy here - beyond the death of little Bianca - is the sheer ordinariness of the actions that led to her being killed.
Speed limit signs have become purely decorative. Stop signs too. Running a red light is commonplace. Enforcement of the rules of the road is negligible.
We have laws to protect the public but, without enforcement, they are hollow words.
The deadly Halloween crash, whatever its cause, should remind us that police play an important role in public health - or at least they should.
Of course there are demands for more police. But throwing bodies at the problem is not a solution.
The real issue is priorities.
Enforcement of traffic laws is not a priority with our police forces, nor with their political masters.
Everybody wants to catch bad guys such as murderers and be hailed as a hero, not hand out tickets and be spat upon.
Politicians puff out their chests and talk about getting tough on crime, but they refuse to bolster the budgets of traffic squads or to implement sound public health measures such as photo radar.
There are almost 3,000 deaths in motor vehicle crashes in Canada each year, along with 18,000 debilitating injuries. By comparison, there are about 600 homicides.
In the wrong hands, a motor vehicle is a deadly weapon. That cars are a leading cause of death in Canada - among the biggest killers of young people - is no surprise.
Everything in our culture encourages the abuse rather than the responsible use of cars and trucks, from the driver's licence as coming-of-age ritual through to TV commercials that sell speed, the fawning admiration of professional race-car drivers and the mass marketing of vehicles able to travel in excess of 200 kilometres an hour.
Society itself is built around the car, and vehicles are the ultimate status symbol. What you drive is a rolling testament to your power, position and wealth.
And how we drive is symbolic of how we live: always in a hurry and all too often disdainful of others. Speed trumps civility, and individual pursuits trump collective ones.
Speed limits are for wimps. Stop signs are for losers. Beating the red is another challenge. The majority of drivers on the country's highways and byways could routinely be candidates for the little-used Criminal Code infraction: operating a motor vehicle in a manner that is dangerous to the public.
There is no need to rein in the motor-head impulse to hit the gas instead of the brakes because the odds of being caught are slim to nil.
We shun photo radar and red-light cameras - with the welcome exception of a few jurisdictions - saying they violate our civil rights.
The right to maim, to kill and to endanger the lives of our fellow citizens? Ah, freedom!
Even assuming the worst about them, the death of Bianca Leduc cannot be pinned solely on the actions of the two young men. They are, after all, products of our car culture.
Until that culture changes, the quiet carnage will continue unabated, and the bodies will continue to pile up.
Zoom, zoom, zoom.
