An ungiven gift helps SES volunteer Steve Collins spread the message about road trauma. He and team-mate Ken Breasley spoke with Kelly Harford and Ashlea Matthews at the ROADwhyz meeting.
By Kath Gannaway
WOORI Yallock teenager Kelly Harford remembers her 16th birthday very well.
It’s a special birthday … perhaps even more so for girls than for boys.
“I remember when I turned 16; you have your big party, get all dressed up, and you just look forward to it so much,” she said reflecting on what it might be like for her, her family and friends if she had been robbed of that “sweet 16” moment.
Kelly and friend Ashlea Matthews were at the ROADwhyz Choices and Consequences road safety meeting at Badger Creek fire station in January.
The program sends a grim, graphic message to young drivers about the choices they make and the consequences.
Part of that message was delivered, gift-wrapped, by Healesville SES deputy controller and unit road crash rescue trainer Steve Collins.
His prop was an ungiven gift wrapped in pink and tied with ribbons and bows.
“Ten years ago my son’s best friend was killed,” he said.
She was just three days off her 16th birthday. Her boyfriend, 17, had a year to go before he got his licence. In the first year of an electrical apprenticeship, he was over the moon when he bought a V8 Commodore – a legal car for P-platers at the time.
“They were both great kids, who came from good families,” Steve says.
They made a choice, in the excitement of the moment, to take a quick spin around the block.
Steve said they were just around the corner from home when the boyfriend saw blue and red flashing lights, panicked, spun the car and hit a pole.
“He killed his girlfriend,” he said.
“Ten years down the track, he doesn’t work; he just sits at home and plays play-station. He’s never had a licence. Injury-wise … nothing wrong, but mentally … that’s another story.”
The present was given to Steve by the young girl’s mother who never got to see the delight of her daughter in opening it.
“She said if you can use it …! Well, I’ve used it for the past 10 years. It tells you it’s final,” Steve said.
It’s a message Ashlea and Kelly say they “got”.
“It can only be a matter of 30 seconds for you to never see your family again,” Ashlea said.
“When Steve brought out the present, it was like she was never going to see what she got for her 16th birthday. Her mother will never get to see her surprised face.
“It was quite a shock to see how reality can be in your hands and seconds later you can be at the end of it.”
Ashlea said she was a bit apprehensive about driving, but that soon disappeared once she had been driving for a while. She’s since had to face reality.
“I just thought I had it all under control, that no-one could hit me, until seven months ago when someone came out of nowhere and cleaned up my car,” she said.
The accident was also just seconds from her home, and Ashlea said she thought of it everyday when she left her driveway and came up to the intersection.
“No-one was hurt, but it’s given me a second point of view about how quick and unexpectedly a car accident can happen,” she said.
Kelly can see it from another perspective. She has two older brothers, 21 and 23, and a younger brother, 10. “I can’t imagine how you would feel to be the driver.
“ I think it would ruin their lives. Everything would be different, they just wouldn’t have the same life they have now. No-one would,” she said.
Steve Collins will, sadly, continue to use the gift he received from a grieving mother.
“I live in this town and have gone to numerous accidents that involve young people and so have a lot of my team mates … crashes involving children of our friends,” he said.
“The best thing for us is if one day we could stop doing this.”
He urged young people to think about the choices they make and said about 70 per cent of fatalities they attend are passengers.
“Parents are always your best option. Ring your parents, ring a taxi, but don’t ever get into a car with someone you know you shouldn’t,” he said.
He added: “Drivers quite often walk away, but they never walk away unharmed … it lives with them forever.”
For information on the ROADwhyz, including future sessions, visit www.roadwhyz.com
