Twelve more deaths, 12 more young souls whose dreams and aspirations will never be fulfilled because they’re never coming back. 

While their physical presence is lost, eternally frozen in time the moment he/she checked a text message while driving, lost control, rolled and hit a tree or sped to overtake on a blind corner and crashed head-on – grieving families forever bear the painful memory the day their son or daughter was ripped from their arms by death. 

We can’t all be experts overnight. Driving takes years of experience to get right. Even then we sometimes need a few gentle reminders. But young drivers especially because statistically speaking you are more likely to involved in a serious crash than anyone else.

According to NSW Police statistics, young drivers feature in more than a third of all fatal crashes despite representing only 15 per cent of the total driving population.

So when police pull you over as a young driver, it’s not because they’re picking on you, it’s not harassment, it’s just making sure our roads are safe. It’s about ensuring the father travelling in the opposite direction with two kids in the back seat, arrives home to loved ones safe and without tragedy.

Think of your own family. How would they cope if you jumped the behind the wheel one morning but never returned?

The consequences of an error in judgement when in control of a car at high speed can be catastrophic and terminal. Don’t be fooled by your sub-conscious thinking “it won’t happen to me” or “that sort of thing happens to someone else” because it’s a false reality. No-one is immune and we’re all at risk but the level of risk is up to you. By taking a few simple safety precautions on the road can mean the world of difference. 

I’ll leave the last word to Traffic and Highway Patrol Commander, Acting Assistant Commissioner Stuart Smith:

“It is certainly high time for mothers and fathers, older brothers and sisters to sit down with their younger driver siblings and tell them that there are no short cuts to driving safely. The rules are simple and they are there for a simple reason; surviving the trip. It is those that don’t make it home who have an impact on families, and those that come to rescue them after a crash, and try to save their lives at the roadside, and at hospital.”