Dot Houston knows better than most that life can change in just a few seconds.
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Mrs Houston was returning from a medical appointment in Melbourne with her husband when they headed to Warrnambool’s Lava Street to pick up food for their son, a harvesting contractor, who was out working.
It was close to Christmas and car spaces were scarce, so Mrs Houston’s husband pulled over to let her out.
“At that stage, I wasn’t feeling too good so I couldn’t have walked very far,” Mrs Houston said.
As Mrs Houston got out of the vehicle, another car began reversing back, pinning her between them.
“I was caught between the two cars,” she said. The reversing car stopped just inches from her face and Mrs Houston was able to pull herself out. But then the car backed again and Mrs Houston was thrown to the ground.
Her legs were caught between the back wheels of the two cars and she suffered two small fractures to the left side of her pelvis.
“I was really lucky,” Mrs Houston said. “It was just a few seconds. It happened so fast. If I hadn’t been hazy in the head I wouldn’t have put myself in that position.”
Mrs Houston said accidents like hers could happen so quickly. “Many people in a hurry just look over their left shoulder to see what’s coming,” she said.
“And a lot of people don’t realise that if you have an accident there can be ongoing problems afterwards that affect people. Not only for the person who has had the accident, but everyone involved.”
Mrs Houston shared her story after new research showed cars with reversing cameras were 41 per cent less likely to be involved in a back-over crash. Cars with sensors were 31 per cent less likely, the Monash University Accident Research Centre study showed.
Mrs Houston had her own close call a few years ago that showed her the importance of retro-fitting reversing cameras. She was ready to reverse out of a bay in a supermarket carpark when a young child slipped from his carers’ hand and ran.
“She tried to get him back and he wouldn’t and so she told him to stay, he was on one side of my car and she was on the other. She beckoned me to back out. I just knew it wasn’t safe to go.”
Mrs Houston was right – the boy ran behind her car. “If I had gone I would have hit him.”
As well as encouraging people to fit reversing cameras to their car, Mrs Houston advises drivers to trust their instincts and give themselves time to take in their surroundings.
It comes as the Traffic Accident Commission is calling on the state’s drivers consider buying cars with reversing cameras, or retrofitting them in older vehicles.