Unpredictable, Sudden Death !

It seems that a new form of unpredictable death is being visited on the citizens of the western world.  That servant of the people - the motor vehicle - is being used to deliver death and serious injury when an individual decides to follow the dictum of religious zealots who are waging war on the rest of the world.

They cleverly use the Internet and the media generally to disseminate propaganda designed to radicalize receptive minds and they promise rewards in an afterlife for those who do their bidding. In the past they were determined to recruit suicide bombers, but that required access to explosives and the technical knowledge to wire up a bomb encased with death dealing projectiles.  That imposed limitations and usually involved a hard core of hidden supporters to gather together the means of achieving martyrdom.

This newer form of dealing death requires no special knowledge.  It simply requires the martyr to obtain the use of a motor vehicle - and the bigger the better.   The attack on Bastille day celebrations in Nice, France involved a semi-trailer and deliberately running down men women and children left over eighty dead and scores injured.

The attack on London's bridge and parliament building was carried out with a common SUV and the number of dead and injured was accordingly lower, but the principle was the same.  A vehicle was calmly and deliberately used to run down innocent people on a public street with the intention of causing death or serious injury.

Now this same horror has cut a swathe through innocent people in that quiet Scandinavian city of Stockholm in Sweden.    The driver of a heavy brewery truck making deliveries was confronted with a stranger who stole the vehicle and swerved from side to side in the heart of the city to hit as many pedestrians as possible - before ramming the vehicle into a major department store.  Four people died and fifteen were badly injured.  The driver jumped from the crashed vehicle and ran into the crowd, but has since been arrested.

There is every expectation that this form of madness will continue.  Unfortunately, the publicity it attracts appeals to minds that seek fame and so often religion is the lesser driving force..   The motivation is often unclear but there is an assumption that these deaths are a product of Islamic Jihad. Perhaps some of those attracted to jihad are cloaking their actions in religious bias when the true motivation is to indulge in the satisfaction that bestowing violence delivers.   This seems particularly likely when the culprits are of tender age.


No doubt we will see public places protected by bollards and barriers but it is impossible to cover every eventuality.  Risk will be reduced where possible, but the public will develop a sense of personal safety.   We will become very conscious of strange vehicle behaviour.   We will probably be aware of possible escape routes when we are in public places.  There will be a higher degree of risk awareness whenever we move in crowds.

.  In reality, the odds of becoming a victim of motor jihad pale into insignificance.   We are more likely to die from a lightening strike or getting hit by a meteorite than falling victim to a deliberate car weapon.   The " novelty " aspect that made it front page news is wearing off and so does its appeal to the publicity seeker.   It seems that jihad has become just another of the many risks we face living in this twenty-first century world !