Yesterday a Nadi barber died in a horrific road accident.
Also known as “Vinsent Barber”, Shahrukh Ali, 26, died after the car he was driving was involved in an accident with another vehicle at Waqadra, Votualevu in Nadi.
His wife Sonam Shalini and three-year-old son have been hospitalised for injuries they sustained during the incident. His brother Muqdadeer Saif Kaiyum described him as “a lovely brother”.
“He was a very hard worker and only recently opened his own barber shop in Votualevu on Monday last week. He was well known for his haircutting skills.”
As police investigations into the accident continue, we are reminded again about the importance of road safety.
Around the same period last year, Ifereimi Vula planned to celebrate his seventh birthday with his classmates the following month in August.
He had asked his parents to buy a cake for him to take to school for his birthday.
He was a little boy who was enthusiastic about life and the things boys his age loved.
He was doing just that, living life to the brim, when he was killed in a road accident.
The Year 2 student of Vugalei District School in Tailevu was allegedly hit by a truck driven by a 36-year-old man at Savu Village in Tailevu.
His emotional mother, Kelera Adi, said he would be missed.
Police spokeswoman Ana Naisoro confirmed, at the time, the driver was returning after offloading hardware supplies when he allegedly hit young Ifereimi who was playing near the village roundabout.
Accidents will continue to happen because we allow them to.
What is sad though is the realisation that accidents also impact human lives.
It’s when people die that we get to learn of such special cases and issues. They each had loved ones who valued them.
They each had hopes and aspirations, and surely yearned for the good things in life.
Such accidents bring to life the realisation that accidents can leave holes in the lives of affected families.
They tear at the heart strings. They take grieving families on a rollercoaster ride that can be very emotional.
Accidents, however, can be prevented. But that will demand our attention and action.
It means we must understand and be aware of road safety tips. We have to place great value on life.
We must appreciate the need to act appropriately when on the road as pedestrians, passengers, or as a driver.
Road safety campaigns are actively promoted annually. Yet every year accidents happen.
We shrug off talk of road safety until the very next accident.
Road deaths, according to the United Nations’ Global Status Report on Road Safety 2018, increased to 1.35 million a year.
That’s nearly 3700 people killed on roads around the world every day.
Millions are injured or disabled every year, people suffer life-altering injuries with long lasting effects, it stated.
These losses take a huge toll on families and communities and the cost of emergency response, health care and human grief is immense.
Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, the director general for the World Health Organization once said experience showed that sustainable road safety must be planned and required long-term investment and appropriate management capacity for effective delivery.
International organisations, he said, donors and the public, and private sectors need to work together to make things happen.
Let’s embrace road safety tips, be aware, keep a lookout for our loved ones, and stay safe.
Road safety tips matter.
