Opinion: It's not SH2 killing people - but improvements can save lives

We should invest money into the roads where people are continuously losing their lives, like SH2. Photo / File

Here we are again.

Another family is mourning the tragic loss of a loved one after a fatal crash on State Highway 2 on Friday.

We don't yet know why this man crashed as police are still investigating the cause, but his name will be added to the growing list of fatalities on this particular stretch of road.

One thing that saddens me is the number of people coming out in defence of the road.

"I drive this road every day, and there's nothing wrong with it," is one familiar refrain.

Another: "Roads don't kill people."

Aside from being completely heartless things, in my view, to say on a report of someone dying, these comments fail to address the contributing factor roads have in fatalities.

It's not wrong to say roads don't kill people. They don't.

But a good road can save people.

Let's say a person loses concentration and drifts into the centre of the road as a family of five drives towards them in the other lane.

That person's hypothetical mistake could end up taking five lives - as well as their own.

Again, not the road's fault. But, in this imaginary situation, what if there was a median barrier?

The person drifting across the road smashes into the barrier, possibly resulting in serious injury or death to themselves, but the five in the car escape unharmed.

That's lives saved.

We can't make every road in the country crash-proof. It's impossible.

But we can invest money into the roads where people are continuously losing their lives, like SH2.

It's something I think should have been done a long time ago, back when it first became apparent that people keep dying on this road.

How many lives could have been saved if the road was safer?