If dangerous drivers could learn one thing about road trauma, Deon Cameron hopes it would be to understand the wider effects one mistake behind the wheel can have.
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“We want to get people thinking about the ripple effect if something was to happen to them,” he said.
“They think of their families, but it’s much more far-reaching than that, it goes right through their community, to the people that attend the scene of the crash and their families.”
Mr Cameron co-ordinates Road Trauma Support Services Victoria seminars in Warrnambool and Portland.
The sessions are aimed at traffic offenders and hope to change participants’ attitudes on the road.
Volunteer speakers share their harrowing stories of road trauma. They have either been hurt themselves, have lost family members, or are part of emergency service crews that attend crash scenes.
“People think of road trauma as being lives lost, but there’s the disabilities, the mental health issues as a result,” Mr Cameron said.
“Those other effects for the people who are left behind or who don’t necessarily lose their lives in a car crash often get kind of lost in the figures, or the public perception of it.”
Mr Cameron said young men dominated the small-group, closed-door sessions.
“We do have women attend as well but it’s not as common. The demographic that is over-represented in the seminars is also the one being over-represented on the roads. These are the ones getting caught,” he said.
Those other effects for the people who are left behind or who don’t necessarily lose their lives in a car crash often get kind of lost in the figures.
- Deon Cameron
“It’s very emotional as well, we get some guys who are really quite closed up at the beginning, but more often than not by the end of it they’re very open. It’s amazing what you can do in two-and-a-half hours. But they then have to go off and put it into practice. We request that they all be strong advocates when they go out into their communities.”
Mr Cameron said often bad behaviour on the road was a cycle passed down through families and shared among peers.
“A lot of the time it comes down the line from family, what they observe, family traits of driving,” he said.
“Drink driving is a big one. We’ve had stories of young people that have been in vehicles and involved in car crashes while their father was driving from a party and crashed. None of these get reported but then they turn up in our seminars having done something similar.”
Not-for-profit Road Trauma Support Services Victoria also offers free counselling sessions to those affected by road trauma. For more information call 1300 367 797.
