Peru’s road traffic is in a lot of trouble
They had announced their arrival weeks ago: a TV team from the University of San Martin de Porres. As a kind of study project, two female and one male student traveled 20 hours by bus from Lima to Curahuasi.
A presentation in the administration office on the history of our mission served as an introduction. During the last pictures, the siren of an ambulance sounded and the members of the press ran to the emergency room. Everyday hospital life live! Three injured people lying on stretchers. A motorcyclist had crashed into a truck with a baby and his sister on the back. Underage, without a helmet, without a driver’s license and drunk. And there were three of them on the motorcycle. According to the injured sister, they had been drinking heavily beforehand to celebrate the purchase of the motorcycle.
Now the concentrated load of stupidity keeps an entire team of doctors and nurses on their toes. A short time later, the teenager undergoes emergency surgery. One of his many diagnoses is a liver rupture (burst liver). He had to be resuscitated twice. Nobody knows whether he will survive the night. Eight employees donate blood.
Tragedies of this kind happen in many countries and at all times. But some questions need to be asked. Why don’t the police in Curahuasi intervene when young people ride motorcycles without a license or helmet? Why does everyone just look the other way when three people are on a motorcycle, often with small children in their arms? The typical Latin American saying is: nothing will happen. But bad things happen every day. Maybe the police should just insist on obeying the law, then there would be fewer deaths and injuries. /KDJ
