By Jem Anshaw
It has been an horrific fortnight on Upper Hunter roads with five families left reeling with the loss of a loved one, while others wait for news on family members and friends in hospital.
“We’ve had five lives lost in the Upper Hunter in the last week and a half, which is just a terrible tragedy for the local community and for the families of those people, particularly this time of year,” Hunter Valley Police District acting inspector Todd Hobson said of the four crashes.
“All of these crashes remain under investigation, and they’ve all been referred to the local coroner here at Muswellbrook.”
While it is yet to be established what the cause of each accident is, acting inspector Hobson said there are common factors that cause fatal crashes, being speed, drink driving, drug driving, inattention and not wearing a seat belt.
“The number one thing that we are finding now is inattention, drivers sneaking a look at their phone, you’ll often drive past drivers yourself and you see that they’ve got their heads down and that’s clearly where they’re looking, at their phone, and the distance your car can travel in that split second is quite measurable,” he said.
“And then, obviously, we’ve got our usual ones for drink driving, there’s that many courtesy busses getting around town now, I’m still at a loss as to why we keep getting drink drivers throughout our town, and drug driving as well.”
Highway Patrol officers are now able to conduct the secondary drug test on the roadside, and if it also returns a positive result the driver can be suspended on the spot for 24 hours while samples are sent to the lab, with acting inspector Hobson saying he is yet to see a positive secondary roadside test come up negative in the lab.
Police, along with Fire and Rescue NSW, NSW Ambulance, Rural Fire Services, Volunteer Rescue Association and the Westpac Rescue Helicopter crews have all been involved in some capacity with most of the recent crashes.
“Each crash is devastating for the families that we attend for the death of their loved ones, and whilst we have a professional crew here at Hunter Valley PD, the New South Wales Police have ample support structures in place for ourselves and for people that attend, plus we also do welfare checks where we check in on our officers to ensure that they’re going okay,” he said.
“With every fatal crash that we attend, it’s referred down to the Department of Forensic Medicine in Newcastle, and they have grief counselling in place, and there’s also now a fantastic organisation, the Road Trauma Support Group (for the families).”
On Monday, November 25, a 43-year-old man died after crashing a motorbike into a tree on Anzac Parade in Muswellbrook, a woman in her 70s and a man in his 20s lost their lives in a two-car crash on Denman Road on Saturday, November 30, a man in his 50s died in a crash between a car and a truck on the New England Highway at Murulla (north of Scone) and on Wednesday, December 4, a man in his 50s died in a crash involving a car and a truck on the New England Highway at Liddell.
GET SUPPORT
The festive season can be hard enough, but compound that with recent tragedies on our roads and it is understandable to feel overwhelmed.
Lifeline has a free crisis support number that can be contacted 24/ 7 on 13 11 14, they also have a 24/7 text line on 0477 13 11 14 and online chat services on their website, lifeline.org.au.
If you would prefer to talk to someone in person, the Social Futures Medicare Mental Health Centre at 160 Bridge Street Muswellbrook is open seven days a week, with no need for a referral to walk in to receive support.
Their hours are Monday, Wednesday and Thursday 10am to 7pm, Tuesday and Friday 10am to 5pm and Saturdays and Sundays 12noon to 4pm.
Social Futures has a pop-up clinic at Scone Neighbourhood Resource Centre, 89 Kelly Street, on Tuesdays between 10am and 3pm, and at 2/16 Cambridge Street Singleton on Tuesdays and Fridays between 9am and 4pm.
If your life or the life of another person is in danger, call 000.
