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BENDIGO Highway Patrol’s Acting Senior Sergeant Mick McCrann reckons he has seen “thousands, tens of thousands” of crashes in his 13-year career as a police officer.
He said it was “basically never-ending” and crashes happened every day – but the vast majority were avoidable.
“It’s extremely rare that a crash happens because there’s a fault with the vehicle. So while it can be a factor, cars don’t fall off the road,” Acting Senior Sergeant McCrann said.
“Weather can be a factor… but 95 per cent of the time, it’s because of the driver.
“The driver’s made the wrong choice, they are travelling at the wrong speed, they’re not in a condition that they should be driving, they’re not paying attention to the conditions, they’re drug or alcohol-affected, and as a result of that, people put themselves in a position where they are at risk of a crash.”
This is something Bendigo paramedic Tony McQueen has seen over the course of his career too.
“We often have the attitude, I guess, that someone’s got to do it, someone’s got to attend those cases, but with road trauma, it’s just not the case… a lot of the accidents we go to are avoidable,” the acting Bendigo MICA team leader said.
Bendigo SES deputy controller of operations Jason Hague is frustrated road safety messages are out there, but too many people fail to heed them.
“I think there’s an element of ‘Oh, it won’t happen to me’... People see themselves as being good drivers, so ‘Oh, it’s OK, I’m a good driver, I can text and drive’, or ‘I can hold my phone to my head and drive’, and things like that,” he said.
Mr Hague said people might think it was acceptable at the time, but stressed that it was not because the impact on the community was “too great”.
Having seen the worst of road trauma, the emergency service workers urge people to pay attention and take care when out on the roads.
“Every time you get in the car, try and act with responsibility, care and diligence when you’re driving,” Mr McQueen said.
“Try and consider the effects that it might have on not only yourself and your family and friends, but other road users.”