Cook Islands road toll fatalities points to 'gutless' MP's
They dot the island like brightly coloured fast moving road insects, the cheapest, effective and most fun way to get around the tiny country.
But while the island breeze catches in the head ei's of the mamas, there is a much darker picture to this carefree vision of paradise. Lack of helmets and driving drunk are turning these machines into instruments of death - and the numbers are soaring.
After the most recent fatality over the weekend locals are labelling the Cook Islands’ parliament members ‘gutless’ as they continue to procrastinate over changes for road safety legislation.
The tiny Island of Rarotonga has the second highest road traffic deaths per capita in the world and has had five deaths by motorcycle this year on its short 20 minute island road.
The recent death of 19-year-old Teariki Smith, after he fatally crashed his motorcycle on Friday night, has spurred on locals who are pushing for policy change to improve driver safety.
It was the second tragic death by motorbike accident for the Smith family who were 'catatonic with grief' with the loss of their son, after their daughter too had her life taken on the roads 12 years previously.
A 2009 World Health Organisation Global road safety report ranked the Cook Islands’ with the second highest road traffic deaths per capita, in the world.Since then, there have been over 20 more road accident deaths, mostly caused by drink driving.
The Islands’ Road Safety Council President, Brent Fisher, says government MP’s don’t have the guts to make it compulsory for motorcyclists to wear helmets.
“I think they’re more worried about their jobs than they are about the safety of their people,” said Brent.
“It’s very disappointing.”
Deaths by motorcycle are the most common cause of death in the Cook Islands, according to government statistics.
The use of a helmet would significantly increase a motorcyclist’s chance of surviving an accident, but Brent says government MP’s don’t want to do anything about it.
“They say it with their mouth that they do but when it comes time to doing stuff, they’re just not fronting up.”
He adds that 90 percent of road toll accidents in the Cook Islands are caused by drink-driving, showing lax enforcement of driving legislation by police.
“There’s not enough effort. There’s some enforcement but nowhere near enough.”
Thomas Wynne, a Guidance Counsellor at Tereora College, describes the general attitude of teenagers to drinking and driving as ‘careless’.
He also says many young people are reluctant to wear helmets but have voiced that they would, if it were regulated.
“So the onus really is on the politicians,” said Thomas.
“The legislation has sat there since 2008 when they went to change the law and then reversed it after some people protested,”
“All they need to do is enforce it, but finding a government that has the political will to do that is the difficulty.”
Thomas says nearly half of the school’s 650 students ride a motorcycle to school every day.
“Here kids get a bike at 16, it’s like a rite of passage.”
He says the Cooks Islands doesn’t have a protracted license and teenagers are able to get a full license at the age of 16 after simple testing.
Thomas says that process needs to change.
He also adds that current legislation which requires motorcyclists to wear helmets if they go over 40 kmph, doesn’t make sense.
“That’s hard to enforce,” said Thomas
“Because you can’t stop someone in the middle of the road while they’re driving and tell them to put a helmet on when they start going over 40 kmph.”
Contrary to past opposition to the proposal of the 2008 helmet legislation, Thomas believes opinions have now shifted in the community and people are reconsidering the idea.
Two years after that proposal was reversed, one of the student counselors Thomas worked with died in a motorcycle accident while not wearing a helmet.
“That was the first road fatality by motorcycle death that I’ve come across,” said Thomas.
“To be quite honest I’m just absolutely sick to death of going to funerals and seeing potential buried in the ground because adults don’t have the political will to make the change.”
A five year road safety strategy plan, put together by government departments and community members this year, aims to reduce the number of serious injuries by 50 percent by 2020.
It includes a goal to eventually achieve a road incident/crash-related death rate of zero.