We say: Just slow down on the road, it’s really not that difficult

It’s a simple message, yet here, like everywhere else, motorists just do not seem to want to listen to the warnings.

Across the region over the long weekend, police stopped more than 140 drivers for speeding, which was the biggest problem on our roads over the holiday period.

We have to ask why it is that despite saturation-level media attention, hefty fines and truckloads of anecdotal evidence, motorists are still taking the risk.

At best, a motorist caught speeding is risking a large fine and several demerit points, but it is the worst-case scenario that should have us all taking our feet off the accelerators.

As Ross Tout, the Cootamundra-Gundagai Controller for the SES, has said, it can take a split second for a crash to occur.

A momentary lapse in concentration is all it can take for a simple car trip to become a nightmare.

According to statistics from Transport NSW’s Office of Road Safety, speeding remains the leading behavioural factor in death and injuries on the state’s roads.

Speeding is said to contribute to about 40 per cent of road fatalities.

Between 2013 and 2017, about 740 people were killed and 19,000 people injured in speed-related crashes.

While even one death is too many, that is a heartbreaking number of people to die on our roads.

That’s 740 families who have been left to pick up the pieces after the death of a loved one, and 19,000 families who have to try to adjust to life after the devastation of having someone involved in a crash.

For many of those 19,000 people, life will be forever altered by injuries suffered in a crash.

There are no excuses for speeding. No appointment is worth risking your life to attend.

Just slow down, concentrate and drive to the conditions.

Perhaps part of the problem lies in the comforts of modern life. Our cars are better, and slowly but surely roads are being upgraded and improved.

Sadly though, better safety features and smoother roads cannot eliminate all the risks and all of us need to acknowledge that driving is not an activity that can be treated lightly.

Just as there is never an appointment worth risking your life for no text message or phone call is that important either.