{"id":102941,"date":"2015-04-14T22:23:11","date_gmt":"2015-04-14T12:23:11","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/southburnett.com.au\/news2\/?p=102941"},"modified":"2025-06-26T12:56:37","modified_gmt":"2025-06-26T02:56:37","slug":"healthy-lifestyle-includes-the-highway","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/southburnett.com.au\/news2\/2015\/04\/14\/healthy-lifestyle-includes-the-highway\/","title":{"rendered":"Healthy Lifestyle Includes Highway"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>April 14, 2015<\/strong><\/p>\n

by Anne Miller<\/strong><\/p>\n

People seem to be very concerned about their health these days.<\/p>\n

They get alarmed if their are micro-traces of pesticide on the skins of their fruit, or if their quinoa is not organic.<\/p>\n

They are so worried about skin cancer that they won’t go outside without wearing a hat and sunglasses.<\/p>\n

They drink bottled water because the perfectly acceptable water out of the tap is seen to be impure.<\/p>\n

They go to gyms, have treadmills at home, join walking and running clubs, diet …<\/p>\n

So why do so many of us speed when we get on the highway?<\/strong><\/p>\n

A few years ago, a head-on crash occurred on the D’Aguilar Highway not far out of Nanango. I spoke to people who attended that crash – emergency services workers – and they were still shaken days later.<\/p>\n

Our police, ambulance crews, fire fighters and SES volunteers see terrible things at accident sites. Sometimes reporters can be unlucky enough to see some of it, too …<\/p>\n

Fatal crashes can be particularly gruesome, but injury accidents can also be extremely harrowing as injured people are cut free from wrecks.<\/p>\n

The gentleman booked by Brisbane police on Sunday for allegedly doing 248km\/h on his motorbike should be ordered to accompany rescue crews for a month as they attend crash scenes.<\/p>\n

But I believe some of the people involved in recent single-vehicle accidents in the South Burnett should, too.<\/p>\n

The difference between life and death can be a matter of centimetres – or a few kilometres per hour – as your car hits the ditch and rolls – will your neck snap or will you crawl out with just a few scratches? Will that tree rushing towards you take out the driver or the empty passenger seat?<\/p>\n

On southburnett.com.au<\/strong> we tag “accident” stories. Since we launched in April 2013, we have published 200 reports about crashes that were deemed serious enough to report.<\/p>\n

Admittedly, they are not all road crashes, but this is an alarming number for a small region such as the South Burnett (and there would be others that, despite our best efforts, we have missed).<\/p>\n

So it makes me ask .. why worry about eating healthy food, if you don’t mind dying in a crash?<\/p>\n

Slow down. Be patient on the road. Do a defensive driving course. Do a motorcycle rider training course.<\/p>\n

These could be far more important than popping on some sunscreen or eating your greens!<\/p>\n