Preventable.
This was how co-ordinator of the Police Service's Road Safety Project, Brent Batson, described the horrific accident in which six people died on Monday night at an intersection along the Churchill Roosevelt Highway near O'Meara.
The deaths pushed the road fatality figure to 124 to date compared to 137 for the same period last year.
Contacted yesterday, Batson, who said he was at a lost for words, said the officers on the scene were also horrified as "pieces of iron and glass were actually meshed into flesh and bones."
"It was really a horrific sight, something which we had not seen in a long while," he said.
Batson said from all indications it appeared the car's driver broke the red light and broadsided the pick-up van at high speed, sending it tumbling.
He said although the road death figure was still below that of last year's, the level of carnage currently witnessed was not only unbelievable but in most instances due to sheer negligence.
"We have not seen that level of carnage like that in a while and it is just so highly preventable. People simply need to do the right thing and obey the traffic lights, and they are refusing to do this," Batson said.
He said what was even more troubling was that this type of accident happened on a Monday night, which was in most cases is highly unlikely, adding that such collisions normally took place over the weekend.
"On the weekends these things tend to be more prevalent. And it is just so highly preventable and that is the part that hurts the most. People have been calling and asking who was right in the accident and I said well almost everybody dead so it does not really matter," Batson said.
He warned that even though a traffic light turns green, drivers must wait at least a few seconds before proceeding, adding that "green does not immediately mean go."
"This must be done, especially at an intersection, to make sure the roadway is clear and by doing this a lot of lives could be saved. And this would also cater for people who also do the wrong thing," Batson said.
"Passengers also need to advise drivers not to take that chance because it is also their lives in the vehicle and also they could aid in being the eyes that a driver missed.
"Please let these people who died be the last consequences of unsafe road use. Let there be no more blood on these roads."
Arrive Alive president Sharon Inglefield also said she was saddened and agreed that the incident was preventable.
"We again appeal to all drivers to slow down, to obey speed limit, stop at the red and amber lights," Inglefield urged.
She also encouraged all drivers to do defensive driving courses which teach the consequences of taking risks as well as hazard perception, and called for the use of more speed guns.
A more intense licensing system to provide novice drivers with the best education so as to prevent this kind of road carnage is also urgently needed, Inglefield said, recommending that this should be both theoretical and practical.
"In the interim, consideration must be given to converting these deadly intersections to roundabouts versus traffic lights. Lives can be saved by this critical initiative," she said. "The most developed countries have taken this vital remedy when fatal collisions occur at these intersections."