Editorial: Driving is not our birthright

Mark Story.

On Tuesday, Tukituki MP and Associate Minister of Transport Craig Foss delivered the grim reality that 11 funerals were scheduled for the coming week - all stemming from the worst Queen's Birthday weekend road toll in 27 years.

The data constituted the gravest tally for the holiday period since 1989, when 13 people died.

Superintendent Steve Greally said it better than anyone else: "Gutted is what we are."

None of the deaths occurred on our region's roads. The closest to home was in Wairarapa on Sunday, when two men died following a head-on collision. Hawke's Bay man Roger Chappell, a former club rugby stalwart and Magpies player, was one of the men who died as a result.

While I hadn't spoken to him since high school, he was one of a handful of Te Aute College students on my daily school bus to Hastings. Years earlier, I'd had the privilege of playing rugby against him at primary school. While a confidence player, he was undeniably skilled. Small in stature by today's footy standards, he always had a hint of a smile on his face. He'll be missed.

Subsequent to the deaths of the 11, there's been all manner of theories bandied about. 'Tis election season after all. And consequently, not all of it is sound.

During radio discourse on the topic yesterday morning, a GP said he was often the one who tells drivers that due to certain physical impairments their driving days are over.

He said patients generally took the news worse than if the diagnosis was a terminal illness.

Maybe that's where we've gone wrong - Kiwis see driving as a birthright. Perhaps we should approach the road with a little more reverence and afford it the sanctity it deserves.