A woman whose sister was killed by a speeding truck driver is pleading with Canberrans to be more considerate and responsible road users,
At today’s ACT Road Safety Week launch Jess Frazer recalled how her sister Sarah and tow truck driver Geoff Clarke were killed in February 2012.
Sarah’s car had broken down on the Hume Highway and Clarke was helping her in the breakdown lane when they were hit by a speeding truck.
Truck driver Kaine Daniel Barnett was found guilty of two counts of dangerous driving causing death and sentenced to three years’ jail.
Ms Frazer said considerate driving from Barnett could have saved her younger sister.
“All it takes is … one second and you could change somebody’s life forever, you could change your own life,” she said.
“People reach for a water bottle, or they turn on the radio and those little things that we’re doing are so unconscious, they can distract us from the bigger picture.
Ms Frazer said the breakdown lane on the Hume Highway was too narrow and has launched a campaign to make all breakdown lanes a minimum two and a half metres wide.
“You should be having enough room to break down safely, particularly on major roads and highways,” she said.
ACT Police chief Rudi Lammers said all jurisdictions constantly considered the widths of roads and lanes in the ACT were “reasonably wide”.
“Most [breakdown]lanes in Canberra and roads in Canberra have shoulders where you can pull off on, but some of the highways between Canberra and other states and territories have very, very narrow roads and very, very narrow breakdown areas,” he said.
Minister for Justice, Shane Rattenbury, said road safety guidelines are regularly upgraded.
“A lot of our roads do have good space but these are the sorts of issues we are constantly looking at,” he said.
‘Share the roads’ to drive down the ACT road toll
As part of Road Safety Week, Ms Frazer, Mr Rattenbury and Mr Lammers have taken the pledge to share the road, in a bid to reduce the road toll.
In 2014, 10 people died on ACT roads and there were more than 800 injuries.
Mr Rattenbury said the pledge was aimed at all road users.
“Cyclists are particularly vulnerable on our roads and as are car drivers,” he said.
“We need to look out for cyclists but they have also got a responsibility to obey the road rules, to not jump through traffic lights, at this time of year to make sure they’re putting lights on when they’re riding in the dark,” he said.
Mr Lammers said motorists needed to be more considerate of others when taking to the road.
“If you can think for a moment that the person in front of you, or the person behind you in a car was a very close member of your family, would it influence the way that you drove on the road?” he said.
“I suspect that it would.
“It’s around making sure people know that they have a responsibility on the road, but it extends to every other day of the year.”
Road Safety Week ends on Mothers Day and Ms Frazer said she hoped that would provide extra incentive for the drive safe message to sink in.
“As my mother would tell you, she just wants us to come home safe when we leave the house,” she said.