There is always an urgency to overreact when we hear bad news.
Rationality is often the first thing that goes out the window and the need to place blame on someone overcomes common sense.
But after yet another fatal accident on Highway 39, perhaps now is the perfect time to begin getting angry; really, really angry.
As has been reported, two local women were killed Thursday afternoon after the truck they were in collided with another truck just outside of Midale.
We add their names to what is a very sad and tragic list.
According to statistics from SGI, there were 19 people killed in head-on collisions from 2002 to 2012 on the stretch of highway from North Portal to Regina. Another 34 people were killed in what SGI described as rollover collisions. Two more fatalities were a result of what they called other collisions.
All told, 55 people died in just 10 years. That is a staggering number. Absolutely mind blowing when you think of how small that section of highway is in the big picture.
Seeing numbers like that defies comprehension. There are so many questions that come to mind but really only one that really matters: why are accidents like the one that occurred Thursday allowed to keep happening?
We sit here watching the body count pile up and nothing is being done to prevent further deaths. Our government has done nothing to improve the safety of drivers along Highways 39 and 6; not even the passing lanes they foolishly keep touting as a potential solution.
The job of trying to force some action has fallen to the Time to Twin Committee which has members here in Estevan and also in Weyburn. The group is focused on seeing that stretch of road twinned.
This small, but dedicated, collection has done everything they can to get the government's attention and unfortunately, they have not gotten very far, albeit not for a lack of effort.
Despite presenting the cold, hard facts to various highways ministers, they have basically been given the same answer each time: the amount of traffic on Highways 39 and 6 does not warrant twinning. Oh how they love to hide behind their numbers.
But here's the thing, that answer is no longer good enough and the public cannot allow the government to hide behind its numbers any longer.
They can trot out all the traffic counts they want. We've got one number that trumps all of theirs: 55. Fifty-five deaths in 10 years, many of which were preventable.
Each time the government rolls out those numbers, they should be forced to meet with the families of the victims and explain to them why nothing was done that may have saved their loved ones and why nothing is being done to prevent more deaths.
The Time to Twin Committee has been carrying the torch for all of us and it's time they get some help. A massive, concerted effort is needed to get the government's attention and force action.
Obviously whatever takes place over the next few years is too late to help the 55 people who died from 2002 to 2012. It is too late to save the two women killed on Thursday.
But at some point the public has to say they've had enough and demand change.
This seems like a pretty good place to start.
