Editorial: Just a thought about suicide

We spend a lot of money on visible road safety, yet more people die annually from suicide and what do we see?

Northland's drink-driving rate is coming down which, on the face of it, is impressive.

Let's hope it is because of the millions of dollars that is poured into preventative policing, and advertising.

Because the only other reason would be that there is less policing going on. Which would seem odd, to say the least, given the problem we say it is in society today.

The decrease/increase scenario around crime is always an interesting argument. If there is an increase in domestic violence, for example, the fact more people are reporting it is often cited as the reason for the rise, as opposed to an actual increase in incidents.

Which offers the counter view that if domestic violence drops, is it because people aren't bothering to report it?

Luckily, most drink-drivers that are caught tend to come from proactive police campaigns rather than reactive policing to driver behaviour.

We are not relying on people to report it, unlike domestic violence. (What a pity you can't breath-test someone for DV).

Alcohol also remains a factor in road accidents and fatalities - roughly 15 to 20 per cent.
Here's something to consider though.

In 2016, 326 people were killed on New Zealand roads.

No wonder we have the money invested in road safety that we do.

What if we had something that resulted in a death toll of more than 500 annually?

We do.
I am quoting figures that are coming up to seven years old, and the Northern Advocatee is seeking more recent figures, but in 2007/08 there 541 suspected suicides.

In 2008/09, there were 531 deaths from suicide, and in 2009/10, 541. I say suspected because I am not aware of whether some of these deaths were caused by something other than suicide.

But it gives a sense of scale of the problem.

Think of the noise we make about road safety, and consider the volume of the conversations we have about suicide.

And I wonder what we spend annually on suicide prevention, compared to road safety?

Just a thought.