By Maddy McCoid, business development manager, NZ Trucking Media

As we know from my last editorial – I spend an inordinate amount of time on the road. For me, this is a massive upside to my job. I love to drive – that’s my happy place. Give me any opportunity to jump in the driver’s seat and I would be on the road with much glee and without hesitation.

Having said that, there is an inherent risk that comes with being on or near the road. It’s a risk that, unfortunately, I am all too aware of. At the ripe age of 26 I have attended five funerals of friends I went to school with, four of them were in the same school year as me and all five of them died on the road.

So, you can imagine how angry it makes me when I see manoeuvres and actions from drivers who are obviously not thinking about their own safety, much less the safety of anyone else. You can be sure that the rage is doubled when there is a truck involved.

In late December I was driving one of my regular routes past the Kerepehi turn off on State Highway 2, travelling behind a car and truck. The car was so close to the truck in front of him that I’m sure the driver did not know he was there. I watched as the car began to overtake the truck on one of the Hauraki Plains’ most infamous sweeping corners. All I could do was brake as the truck and the two vehicles coming towards us did the same thing in an effort to avoid what was almost a hugely unfortunate situation.

The utes coming towards us slammed on the brakes, pulled to the side, kicking up dust and gravel as they did so – they did a great job to get out of the way in time. The truck veered left in an effort to create as much room as possible. I can say hand on heart that I have never seen a miss so near.

The reality is that there was no need to overtake that truck at that time. The truck driver was driving at a steady pace and I wonder what the person in that car was thinking when they decided to overtake in that spot. How much quicker did they arrive at their destination, and what did they do with all of that spare time they achieved by risking a minimum of five lives?

Statistically speaking, cars are one of the most dangerous ways to travel, despite how ingrained they are into society. The fact is, every time we get into a car we risk our lives and lives of those around us when we fail to drive safely and to the conditions – be it weather, time of day or surroundings. The only thing we can do to make it safer is play our part and remember that the world does not revolve around us, we are not infallible, nor are we invincible … a lesson I learnt very early and one I hope the driver of that car outside Kerepehi does not have to learn the hard way.