According to the World Health Organization each year an estimated 1.2 million people are killed and as many as 50 million are injured due to road accidents around the world. This figure is expected to rise by as much as 65% in the next decade and, if measures are not taken to prevent accidents and improve road safety, motor vehicle accidents will be the 5th leading cause of death by 2030. Due to poor infrastructure, insufficient education and lax controls, Peru has one of the highest per capita road related death tolls in the world and an estimated 10 people die every day on its roads. Over the past decade road accidents have killed over 32 thousand people and injured a further 340 thousand people in Peru and the economic costs of road accidents are estimated at more than $1 billion annually.
Countless shrines, which commemorate the deaths of individuals in traffic accidents, dot the sides of roads, streets and highways throughout the Peru. These shrines each tell their own unique story of life and death and are not only an important element of the process of mourning in Andean culture but also a reminder of the devastation of traffic related casualties. While one would expect these memorials to serve as a constant reminder of the threat of road accidents, unfortunately their vast numbers have led to a kind of public apathy and frequently go unnoticed.
By taking these photos through the window of a passing vehicle, it is my intention to try and capture the moment when we glimpse these shrines out of the corner of our eyes, and thus bring them back into focus.
I hope that by tapping into this deep rooted, yet largely ignored, aspect of the Peruvian psyche I will encourage the public to reflect on the tragedy of road accidents and by virtue of this to drive more safely. It is also my hope that this project will bring the issue of road related fatalities into the limelight and instigate measures to improve road safety education and reduce the road death toll.
These images have not been digitally altered, and the motion inherent in them is the result of taking the photographs while moving at high speeds.
