AS THE death toll on local roads continues to rise a Griffith man forced to live with the devastating affects of two separate accidents has appealed to drivers to take greater care.
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Griffith mayor John Dal Broi, who tragically lost his son Johnny in a car crash in 2000 and was involved in an accident where two women lost their lives in 2006, has helped launch The Area News Survive The Drive campaign.
On Monday, a Korean national was killed on the Kidman way near Goolgowi, taking the road toll in the region to a record eight in three months.
Councillor Dal Broi said this latest tragedy only reinforced the need for greater road safety awareness.
"We lost our son on a very stormy, rainy night," he said.
"He was coming into town to meet friends, he knew the road well but miscalculated a bridge.
“You never get over it, you just learn to live with it. There isn’t a day that we don’t think about him.”
Cr Dal Broi was left devastated when a car slammed into the truck he was driving on Main Road 80 and two women were killed.
“That accident really proved to me how careful you need to be with the way you drive and indicate,” he said.
“This particular road there was a bit of a hill you had go up. I had looked in my
rearview mirror and saw a car that looked to be way back. I put my blinker on to turn right and then the car was there.
“The damage to my truck was virtually nil. They clipped my bumper and the end result was two people were killed.
“It’s one of the most dreadful experiences.”
He admitted he struggled to come to terms with the horror crash.
“I analysed the accident in my mind, over and over a million times,” he said.
“Not long after I had to deliver something back to that farm. I didn’t want to go, but when I did I found a similar thing happened.
“I’m now 100 per cent sure these people saw my blinker as an indication that they could go around me because the driveway was hard to see.
“You have to be so careful with your signals and be fully aware.
“It can happen to anyone. It’s a split second thing. I never thought I’d ever be involved in an accident. It’s still hard to live with and I feel for the families because I know what it’s like to lose someone like this.
“We all need to be more vigilant, whether it’s slowing down, taking rests or swapping drivers. We have long stretches of road out here and people tend to relax a bit and speed. But out in rural areas long distances, feral animals and fatigue can easily cause an accident.”
The Area News today launches the Survive the Drive road safety campaign.
