An unfortunate incident that could have taken a far more tragic turn occurred on Sunday at an event connected to the Turin Motor Show in Italy.
During a parade of racing cars, the driver of a classic Lancia rally lost control during a manoeuvre and drove it part of the crowd gathered on the side of the road. A dozen people were injured.
Fortunately, the car wasn’t moving fast, otherwise the consequences could have been catastrophic.
This reminds us of an incident in Montreal last year (also in mid-September, ironically), involving a young driver who had wanted to impress people leaving a performance car meeting. He crashed into a pole and two people were injured.
It's a reminder of just how much of a weapon any car is when handled irresponsibly.
The good news is that the injuries were relatively minor, according to MSN. One woman did suffer a broken leg and was taken to hospital. Five others were taken to hospital for further examination. All the other injured were treated on site.
The driver, who has not been identified, is currently under investigation by the local police.
Let's hope that this latest example will give some people pause for thought and help prevent further incidents. This is the difficult task of prevention; when it works, we don't see the results, because it's future incidents that are avoided.
That's why it's so important to keep hammering home the message about safety... and the behaviours to adopt (and not to adopt) when behind the wheel.