Too often, the pages of this newspaper contain the stories of those left behind to grieve the loss of loved ones who fall victim to carnage on Canberra's roads.
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They bravely speak of the holes left in their lives, providing a momentary glimpse into a pain that can never be fully explained.
The moment we hope will prevent more families learning the true extent of such trauma has come in the form of an ACT Legislative Assembly inquiry into dangerous driving, which will examine criminal punishments, rehabilitation and the support that is provided for victims.
As this newspaper's Blake's Legacy campaign highlighted earlier this year, lives will be saved by measures like mandates on the latest vehicle safety technologies and legal requirements for doctors to report patients who potentially pose a danger behind the wheel.
But these are only part of the road safety puzzle and the reality is some will still drive dangerously, with fatal consequences.
What a meaningful Assembly inquiry can do is recommend meaningful reforms that make more people think twice before engaging in risk-taking behaviours on our roads and, by extension, help cut down the number of deaths.
The ACT is on track to this year record its worst road toll since 2015, needing only two more fatalities in the remaining three-and-a-half months of 2022 to cross that grim threshold.
Driving issues have become so bad ACT Policing has recently established a taskforce to target high-risk road behaviours, and even engaged a criminal psychologist in a bid to understand what motivates "hoons".
Dangerous drivers are clearly not being deterred to an adequate degree, and the blame for that has been laid at the feet of the territory's courts in recent weeks.
While some of the criticism may well be warranted, judicial officers are easily and often unfairly targeted.
Courts can only work within the powers of the law, and it is up to politicians to make legislative changes.
The grieving parents of fatal crash victims Blake Corney, 4, Lachlan Seary, 19, and Matthew McLuckie, 20, have pushed for change.
While each lost a blameless loved one whose life had barely begun, Blake and Lachlan's killers were sentenced to jail terms requiring less than three years behind bars.
The badly injured driver who killed Matthew may never recover enough to face justice, leaving devastated dad Tom McLuckie with just a P-plate, a parking ticket, a smashed light fitting and an intubation tube.
These were all he managed to salvage from the scene of his son's death.
Had the suspected street racer who crashed into Matthew been more scared of the potential punishment for her actions, maybe a father would still have his son.