IN A split second, life can take a turn for the worst. And just like that, things will never be the same again.
Countless Hawkesbury families have had their lives changed forever after losing loved ones on the road.
The sounds of sirens have become so common in the Hawkesbury with nine people killed on the roads this year so far and a total of 44 since 2010.
From January 1 to September 16, there have been seven fatal crashes resulting in nine people killed — almost double the casualties of last year. Statistics obtained from the Centre for Road Safety reveal this is the second deadliest year on our roads since 2010, when 12 lives were lost.
In a five-year period from 2010 to 2014, there were 2385 recorded crashes in the Hawkesbury, resulting in 35 people killed and 1256 injured.
Young adults aged 17 to 25 accounted for almost half of all fatalities and 40 per cent of all drivers and riders involved in fatal crashes.
Located on the outskirts of the Sydney metropolitan area, the Hawkesbury sees many people travel through the region and traffic flow tends to increase at the start and end of holiday periods. Most move around the region while others travel through the area on Bells Line of Road and Putty Road.
According to previous statements by police, more traffic incidents occur over the warmer months and roads are generally quieter during the cooler months.
SES VOLUNTEER DAVID KING
Emergency service crews are not immune from the trauma of a serious road accident, says long serving Hawkesbury SES volunteer David King said.
Mr King has been involved in rescue for 30 years and said the reaction he and his colleagues share when a call comes in as a possible fatality is: ‘‘Oh no, not another one’’.
Most emergency services personnel are parents, so when we go out to fatalities involving young people, it cuts deep. We look at them as a son or daughter — someone’s child.
- SES volunteer David King
Mr King said he wished teens and young adults could see what he had seen.
He recalled a time when he had to cut a beautiful teenager out of her car while her fingers were still on the radio.
‘‘Maybe they would drive safer if they saw the images in my head,’’ Mr King said. ‘‘I’ve been to way too many accidents. I can sit here and cry.’’
He blames distraction and fatigue for most of the fatal and tragic accidents in the region involving young people.
‘‘It’s not our roads, it’s driver error. Take for example the triple fatality at Bilpin, it happened on a freshly clean neat new road. You couldn’t ask for a better road.’’
Over the years, Mr King said he had seen a rise in accidents involving P-plate and student drivers, mainly because of distractions with smart phones, tablets and navigators.
‘‘Compared to 10 years ago, the only thing people could get distracted with was a little Nokia phone. But we now live in a world where notifications could be set up for various apps on our smart phones which makes it impossible to ignore the rings and beeps.’’
He said when young people were in a car all together, they muck around and get distracted, which can quickly result in an accident because of their lack of experience on the road.
Mr King said fatigue was also a major factor because young people ‘‘love to party and don’t get the rest needed before getting behind the wheel’’.
‘‘Partying doesn’t necessarily mean they’re on drugs or alcohol, it just means they haven’t had enough sleep because they could be out for hours at a time.’’
SENIOR SERGEANT JOHN BREADEN
Senior Sergeant John Breaden said without doubt the hardest job in the police force was having to deliver the ‘‘death message’’.
‘‘As a parent, there is no worse job than telling loved ones that someone who was very close to them has died,’’ Snr Sgt Breaden said.
As a parent, there is no worse job than telling loved ones that someone who was very close to them has died.
- Snr Sgt Breaden
‘‘It doesn’t matter how old the person was when they died, it still shakes most people to the core.
‘‘It’s difficult and confronting because nothing we say is going to help despite trying our best.’’
Snr Sgt Breaden said that equally gut-wrenching as having to relay news of a death was actually being at the scene of a fatality.
He recalls the time a teenage pedestrian was killed by a drunk driver while she was out walking.
‘‘The driver was with a car full of passengers when he mounted the gutter and ran her down before colliding with a telegraph pole. The car stopped in someone’s front yard and there were injured people all over the lawn.’’
As the first on the scene, Snr Sgt Breaden and his partner tried to administer CPR until the ambulance arrived.
He said he watched the girl die two or three times within the hour.
‘‘Just as we helped load her into an ambulance, I remember her father wanting to climb in the back but he wasn’t able to because it was a touch and go situation. The staff needed to be able to work without extra people in the back. Later that night, she passed away on the operating table at the hospital.’’
Snr Sgt Breaden said the above story was one that stuck with him because it was too close to home as a parent.
‘‘Drivers and riders aged 17 to 25 are overly represented in crashes in general as well as in fatal crashes. One death is one death too many. My staff are working hard to keep the number of people killed on our roads as low as possible. It is our goal that no-one else is killed on Hawkesbury roads this year.’’
