KT edit: Death of common sense

Nearly every day someone either crashes or hits another

The death of three people in Umm Al Quwain as a result of speeding simply underscores avoidable tragedy. Not only is there a terrible and wasteful loss of life but the trauma affects family, friends, and colleagues and the lesson never gets learned. In the UAE, the police and allied authorities have laboured long and hard to get the basic message of road safety across. At moments like this, all that effort and time and yes, even expense, is wasted because so many people refuse to absorb the message soaked in plain common sense.
Nearly every day someone either crashes or hits another and though it is heartening that there has been a drop of 34 per cent from the 700s to the 400s in the past five years, every such loss is hurtful in the extreme. Campaigns are conducted regularly and yet so many of us can recall that heart-stopping moment when a speedster roars past you on the highway and weaves his way through traffic with nary a care for other people's safety. Even hefty fines do not seem to work. All too often the crashes and that is what they are because we cannot call them accidents, if the driver has decided to break the rules with such disdain, are debited to the hot blood of youth. This is misplaced romanticism and ironical. The young have their whole lives ahead of them and so much more reason to live.