Every morning, the Queensland Ambulance Service sends out a report of the jobs they attended on the previous day or overnight.
It is a service to the media, so we are aware of what might be newsworthy in our patch.
The information is basic. It tells us what injuries were incurred, where it happened and at what time.
Incidents which involve police are often sent to us via their separate media unit, and might include any charges, further detail of the incident, and the types of thing police might allege in the instance of crime.
We tend not to report on every little two-car ding, or cars running into power poles, and we’ve steered away from the old newspaper tactic of shaming every drink driver who walks through the door of a courtroom.
Perhaps we should.
It has of late been astounding the number of accidents on our roads which have required ambulance, police, emergency services, and in the occasional case, Lifeflight helicopters.
There was a crash in the City of Logan every day over the past week. In Friday’s QAS state report, there were five single-vehicle accidents, and another at Shailer Park between a car and motorbike.
This sends alarm bells. Even moreso when we consider almost every accident involved the Fatal Five – which means they could have been prevented with a bit more care and attention.
During recent Road Safety Week mayor Darren Power pleaded with people to have conversations with loved ones, “or maybe even think about your own attitude towards driving and think about what you can do better.”
Police are forever beating the safety drum. To lose 16 lives in one council area over a 12-month period is an appalling number.
It’s made even worse knowing most can be attributed to stupidity.
