RISING REGIONAL ROAD TOLL DEVASTATES RESCUE CREWS
May 9, 2022
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
HORROR ROAD TOLL DEVASTATES REGION’S RESCUE CREWS
“Absolutely gutted”.
The death of three people on the region’s roads in a 37-hour period at the weekend was indicative of a horror increase in a spate of tragic road accidents this year, RACQ CQ Rescue pilot Leigh Wilkinson said.
The Mackay-based rescue helicopter service has responded to double the number of incidents where people have been seriously injured in motor vehicle accidents this year as compared to the same timeframe in 2020.
So far in 2022, 18 people have been airlifted by RACQ CQ Rescue with injuries sustained in accidents involving cars, trucks and motorbikes. In 2020, the number injured was just nine for the exact same period.
Mr Wilkinson said the alarming increase in senseless deaths and serious injury on the region’s road had a very significant impact on not just families and friends of the victims but also the community as a whole and first responders at the scene.
Some recent accidents had had a very profound impact on the crews who attended, he said.
RACQ CQ Rescue was tasked on Friday afternoon to a fatal motorcycle accident on the Bruce Highway at St Lawrence. On Easter Monday, a 19-year-old woman was airlifted to Townsville after the motorcycle she was a pillion passenger on was hit by a car doing a u-turn on the Bruce Highway near Koumala. Her 60-year-old father died at the scene and the young woman later died in hospital.
RACQ CQ Rescue also transferred a 12-year-old boy to hospital in Mackay after a horror head-on smash between two cars at Gregory River a week ago. The boy’s twin brother died in the accident and their mother was taken to Proserpine hospital by ambulance.
Mr Wilkinson said all fatalities and serious injuries on the region’s roads were “enormously tragic”.
“For everyone who dies there are a huge amount more who are terribly injured,” he said.
“The reality of being in a car crash is a terrifying experience if you are seriously injured. The path to recovery is often very long and painful, sometimes taking years.
“You are in serious pain. Your clothes will be cut off and you will be terribly frightened and traumatised. You really don’t want to be that person. There is the chance of permanent disability. People can have spinal injuries and they’ll have ongoing treatment for the rest of their lives.”
Mr Wilkinson said the rescue chopper crew were also impacted by the horror scenes they witnessed.
“Once I became a parent, going to incidents with young children became a lot harder to process,” he said.
“Memories and flashbacks, fatigue, mood swings can go on for a week while you process what you have been to. Adults can sometimes make poor choices but children just don’t have a choice in the decisions that can ultimately change lives in a split second.”
Mr Wilkinson said he attended a horrific accident on the Peak Downs Highway in February which tragically claimed the life of a Clermont health worker.
The woman was driving a patient from Mackay back to Clermont when she was involved in a head-on accident with a Toyota Prado. A 33-year-old Mackay woman was trapped and was flown by RACQ CQ Rescue back to Mackay.
“Scenes like that are incredibly confronting – both of those vehicles were very heavily damaged. A person was just going about their work day and then their family’s lives are changed forever.”
Working in a regional area meant he and his colleagues could sometimes know the people they treated at crash scenes or their family.
“It really weighs on your mind. It definitely makes it harder if you have a personal connection,” he said.
The drastic increase in the road toll was hard to explain but Mr Wilkinson urged motorists to exercise caution on the road with serious wet weather forecast across the region this week.
“It’s probably a lack of understanding of the roads, underestimating other road users, not matching speed with the road conditions and not being well prepared to drive by being affected by alcohol, substances or fatigue,” he said.
“Please be careful on our roads. We really don’t want to meet you or your loved ones by accident.”
{ENDS]
RACQ CQ Rescue pilot Leigh Wilkinson
Please credit any released photos and video footage to RACQ CQ Rescue.
Please note: Full title of rescue service is RACQ CQ Rescue.
For further information please contact:
Naomi Noy
RACQ CQ Rescue
Ph: 0417 578 182