There was a university professor who lived. She lived until a young, inexperienced driver crashed into the car she happened to be within. Some sort of cataclysmic injury on the scale of the vital processes that supported her life was not compatible with those injuries.
She died.
Deaths in collisions between cars are common news, tragic news. But they aren't very common. To bring some data to this discussion (and to deviate from the point I will make later in this post) - fatality rates are often presented in raw numbers. 12 people, 124 people, 1582 people. Just people. Just numbers.
But this doesn't take into account the full story. The fact that a population always trends upwards, so just reporting in raw numbers isn't helpful, it is, perhaps, misleading. So when I started researching for this post, I was very pleased to find that the Australian Road Safety website presents a statistic called Fatality Rate. It is defined as such:
Refers to the count of road deaths in the last 12 months divided by the resident population at the midpoint of that period, multiplied by 100,000. Population estimates are sourced from ABS' national, state and territory population statistics. The midpoint population may be interpolated if necessary. The fatality rate allows for easier like-for-like comparison between states and territories and other sub-groups as it is not affected by size differences in populations.
This is much more helpful than raw numbers. South Australian roads are the safest (in terms of deaths per 100,000 population) than they've been since 2021. The last twelve months has been 9.4% less fatal since last year. 2024 was a whopping 24.9% less fatal on the roads compared to 2023. Amazing. Incredible.
But still people die.
Image Source - Vlad Artist, via Pixabay
There was a university professor who lived. I only know this because I saw it as I doom scrolled social media. The driver of the vehicle who occasioned the death is young. Their lawyer, and they, are trying to be sentenced not as an adult, but as a youth. Whatever implications that has, someone is still dead.
I don't know either party involved. Death is tragic to someone, no matter the circumstances. In any case, the reporter in the video clip stopped making their remarks. A serious expression.
Ad starts in 5,4,3,2,1.
A guitar riff opens. An aerial view of a dual cab ute, plumes of dust and red soil chasing it, destined never to catch it. Something about being able to travel "your own way" (you have probably seen the ad, if you live in Australia).
Text on the bottom of the screen, a staple of most car advertisements.
Do not attempt. Closed course. Professional Driver.
Erratic turning, smiling lifestyle. Hero shot of vehicle.
A news story about someone losing their life in a car accident. The absolute cognitive dissonance (and abject comedy) of a loud, pumping confident advertisement, and then the somber moment of silence before the algorithm clicked over to the next video.
News is just an acronym. Notable events, weather and sport. A death is a notable event. Reporting on the way in which the justice system is poised to handle that event is in of itself another notable event. It is a self sustaining parasite, in our contemporary world, designed to harvest advertising revenue.
A woman is dead, the fate of a young driver hangs in the balance.
An advertisement ticked over another impression. Am I likely to go buy this car following a quietly melancholic news article?
I couldn't help but laugh. I couldn't help but despair at the discomfort an advertising executive would no doubt experience if they were exposed to the individual circumstances surrounding this single impression, of a campaign no doubt destined to be viewed by millions.
But I do sit back and wonder. How many people, just like me, saw this advertisement, on this news story, and despaired.