This story in the Liverpool Echo is titled “ We Must Stop Boy Racers“. It begins with:
SPEED kills – it’s a message that is repeated again and again and again. And yet, tragically, it’s a message which some hugely-irresponsible individuals choose to ignore.
What chance does it have when anorak organisations are trying to show how clever they are with words, and sending out the message that speed DOESN’T kill?
Alan Jackson, 48-year old father of two and grandfather of two, was mowed down by Sam Griffiths, 23. Griffiths had been racing through red lights, flashing others to get out of his way and undertaking them.
It’s worth looking at that recent post about idiot drivers in order to see that Griffiths’ kind is not a rarity. The Echo shoots itself in the foot in a small way, by adding the usual (though much less sincere) caveat:
While many men of the same age are sensible and mature enough to drive safely…
I am increasingly of the opinion that the “sensible and mature” young drivers are actually in a very small minority – and the group absolutely and definitely is not populated just by the male of the species.
I say this because no matter how good someone is at driving – and how much you can teach them during lessons – the one thing you cannot do is change their attitude. Some comedians out there market themselves as life coaches who reckon they can, but they can’t. The only people who can change attitudes are 1) those with the attitude in the first place, and 2) those who helped create the attitude (i.e. the parents).
And let’s face it, #1 isn’t likely to happen anytime soon to the modded Corsa-owning jackasses out there. So the blame lies squarely at the feet of the parents.
Griffiths could have gone to prison for 14 years. He actually got 4 years and 3 months – or in other words, he could be out in little over two years, and almost certainly within three! So that’s the value set on Alan Jackson’s life (and I’d have loved to have heard the glowing references from Griffiths’ mum and dad before the little scumbag was put away).
I’m not convinced the Echo has though this through properly, though. Its solution?
Schools could begin the education of the drivers of the future before they ever get behind the wheel, while there is certainly a case for adapting driving lessons – in both cases, perhaps, pictures of road accident scenes could be shown to future drivers.
And maybe they should be told about and invited to attend an annual RoadPeace service of remembrance, when families place roses on empty chairs signifying the number of lives lost on Merseyside roads the previous year.
It’s a life and death message – and more people have got to be made to listen.
It’s almost as bad as sending them on expenses-paid holidays.