In the light of the recent increase of pedestrian accidents, your day inevitably includes grabbing your mobile to call your dear ones to check they are all right. How can you not when the media daily reports the butchering of human bodies under crushed steel? More and more people are ending up injured in hospital, often on the brink of death after a car accident.

However, we never get to know what happens to the victims afterwards. We never hear of the daily, uphill struggle coping with the trauma, the physical pain and mental exhaustion of surviving a string of operations, and finally accepting that you are a changed person. We all want to hear that things get better, but it is rarely true; you only resign yourself to a new, harder life because the old one, which has been stolen away from you, will never be restored.

On a daily basis the victim needs physiotherapy and frequent hospital visits, while those few, lucky, irresponsible drivers who walk away practically unscathed from the accident, lead a normal life and possibly driving again even a few days after the accident. At the end of the day, the only consolation for the victim is the compensation paid out by insurance companies. In Malta, victims are not compensated for the pain and suffering endured, as the maimed person is only entitled to medical expenses. These do not cover days and months of sleepless nights, sacrifices done by the supporting family, the loss of independence and self-dignity. Furthermore, how can the system assume the victim can afford the needed medical aid if compensation is only paid afterwards?

One never expects such things to happen to him, but they do and when it happens you have to cope with operations, police and court hearings, all at once. If you have lived a quiet life, these experiences end up overwhelming and throwing the strongest of families into an abyss of despair. Only with the help of good people does one make it through. How can we expect law-enforcement officers to be omnipresent? Accidents happen when least expected, it is the people who have to implement self-discipline, if not out of respect for other people’s lives, at least from fear of the law. Having insurance cover should not act as a safety net for people who shrug off all sense of responsibility

. Everyone knows the speed limit and Malta definitely cannot be criticized for its lack of street signs and pedestrian crossings! Furthermore, this ongoing carnage driven by irresponsibility is only an additional burden on the medical staff who would definitely benefit if these accidents were prevented, as they would be able to devote more time to other patients.

Let’s all examine our conscience and admit that most of us answer the mobile while driving, that a bottle or two of wine in our system does not prevent us from sitting behind the wheel and driving, that the distractions are several but that nobody thinks the next time he is driving he might crush a body with his car. One can safely conclude that road regulations are being ignored and something must be done before you get a call on your mobile informing you that a family member or a friend is in hospital struggling for his life.

Accident or no accident there are repercussions the victim will suffer throughout his life. The victim pays for another person’s mistake and if the authorities concerned do not right the wrongs, the absence of justice leaves anger and pain behind. If these excesses remain unpunished and no one is held accountable, the numbers will keep rising.

A car is a weapon for which you need a licence, but do people really fear the repercussions of misusing that weapon? If the system will keep allowing loopholes whereby no one is held accountable for his mistakes, street negligence will never be considered a crime.

Victoria Carabott

MARSAXLOKK