A ripple effect is felt across the community when a serious road collision occurs, with the far-reaching impact being the driving force for a not-for-profit group to continue its vital work to reduce the incidence and impact of road trauma.
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Last year 232 lives were lost on Victorian roads, with just over half in regional Victoria - an increase from the 211 lives lost in 2020 (with 60 per cent in regional Victoria). However, the previous two years have both been a decrease from the 266 lives lost in 2019 (with 54 per cent in regional Victoria).
So far this year 22 lives have been lost in road crashes in Victoria, with 66 per cent on regional Victorian roads.
Aiming for a continued reduction in deaths and to reduce the impact of road trauma is the aspiration of not-for-profit organisation Road Trauma Support Services Victoria. It works to mitigate road trauma by providing free counselling as well as promoting road safety messaging, strengthened by its proven approach of sharing the stories of those with lived experience of trauma.
Counselling
One of the organisation's main services to the community is free counselling, unique in that it does not require a referral.
Kerri-Ann Batchelor, the regional coordinator of the service in the Grampians, said the organisation worked with more than 3000 Victorians each year.
"We provide counselling to anyone impacted by transport trauma, irrespective of when the collision occurred," she said.
The service is provided to anybody impacted by road trauma - be it a person injured in a crash, their carers or families.
An individual responsible for road trauma can also access the service, as can bereaved families, friends and colleagues of someone who lost their life.
The service is accessible to drivers, passengers, cyclists, pedestrians, witnesses and emergency service workers too.
Education
The other main component of the service is creating a greater road safety awareness and educating the community about the broader impact of road trauma.
This is achieved through awareness seminars specifically designed for the audience on the night - young people, community or sporting groups.
These seminars regularly run across the state. In the Grampians region, they are run monthly in Ballarat, but are also hosted regularly across the wider region including at Ararat, Stawell and Horsham.
We're committed to educating the community and raising public awareness about road trauma and how it affects people in the community and individual lives
- Kerri-Anne Batchelor
"We're committed to educating the community and raising public awareness about road trauma and how it affects people in the community and individual lives," Ms Batchelor said.
These seminars are frequently hosted with individuals in attendance who have been referred from the Magistrates' Court of Victoria, Victoria Police, Corrections Victoria or lawyers. These are often people who have repeatedly appeared before the court for driving offences.
Ms Batchelor said the seminars focused on how driver choices increased risk on the roads but were always a "respectful and safe environment" for all participants and no blame was placed.
"They have been through the system already, this is about showing the human face of road trauma," she said.
"We don't blame and we don't shame. We just want to educate the community and raise awareness so hopefully people can learn from their choices and make better choices in the future."
Ms Batchelor said a crucial part of the education delivered was by the volunteers who shared their lived experiences of road trauma.
Volunteers
To drive home the messages and highlight the "human face of road trauma", all seminars are attended by a volunteer who shares their lived experience with the group.
"We have community volunteers who have either been victims of road trauma, are a family member of someone who has died from road trauma or who have caused road trauma themselves," Ms Batchelor said.
"They tell their lived experience and it's really quite powerful and their stories are what profoundly impacts the participants."
Other volunteers are from emergency services, be it police, firefighters or State Emergency Service volunteers.
"A lot of the time they're the first responders so they are impacted too. They experience the trauma and can have post traumatic stress disorder."
Ms Batchelor said this trauma was often more acutely felt in regional areas, especially smaller towns where emergency service workers are more likely to know those involved in the crash or their families.
While the seminars can often begin with some apprehensiveness and nervousness from those in attendance, Ms Batchelor said the "change in mood was palpable" once the volunteers told their stories.
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"It really touches some people and you can see the emotion," she explained. "Some of the participants who might have initially not been okay often speak up and thank the volunteer at the end of the session."
She said the sessions ended with organisers asking those in attendance what they will take away, and "more often than not" it will be a part of the story shared, leading to a realisation their choices could have had disastrous repercussions.
"... the ripple effect on them, their family, the first responders, the community, and really taking to heart what could have happened, and the fact that they are the lucky ones that were in the room."
Ms Batchelor said "the impact was profound" and often resulted in increased respect for emergency services after hearing their stories and the impact of the trauma on them personally.
"Most people leave feeling surprised at what they've learned and grateful for the experience."
Creating safer roads
While road safety systems - including speed limits, crash barriers on highways and new vehicle technology such as seatbelt alerts and airbags - are in place to prevent fatalities, human behaviour is a vital part of creating safe roads for all road users.
"At the heart of the road safety system is us as humans and we are at the centre of developing that safer system," Ms Batchelor said.
"People make mistakes and will continue to make mistakes and the transport system accommodates that, but it shouldn't result in death or serious injury as a result of those errors on the road."
She said humans - as car, truck, bus drivers and users, pedestrians, bike and motorbike riders - were "breakable and vulnerable" so while infrastructure had definitely made an impact in mitigating road trauma, human error still needed to be addressed.
Ms Batchelor said single-vehicle accidents were especially common in the region and all too commonly resulted in a life being lost.
Between 2016 and 2020, more than half of those killed in the region died within a 30-kilometre radius of their home.
Contributing factors continue to include speed, fatigue, drugs, alcohol, distraction and concerningly, failing to wear a seatbelt, so encouraging people to change their attitudes to driving, and ultimately their behaviours, is the aim of the seminars.
"It is about choice more than anything. When you get behind the wheel, be aware of the choice you make.
"A lot of it can be changed through behaviour, attitudes to driving and education - and a safer road system.
"It's a responsibility of all of us to reduce road trauma and be part of that safer system."
Data indicates that road trauma costs Victoria approximately $6 billion each year. The Transport Accident Commission pays an average of $2.25 million for each serious injury, such as a spinal or traumatic brain injury.
But Ms Batchelor said the impact was so much more than the financial cost, it was the "lives lost and the ripple effect on families, friends and communities".
Supporting the organisation
The organisation receives support from government bodies but also relies on community support and donations to continue.
It takes the stance that every life lost is one too many, but also recognises how serious injury collisions can impact the wider community.
As such, the community is encouraged to spread the world about the organisation and the services it provides.
Another way to support the organisation is to attend its two annual community events - Shine a Light on Road Safety and its annual ceremony to acknowledge those who have died or been seriously injured each year.
The former takes place around May and sees supporters walk around Albert Park Lake in Melbourne to demonstrate a shared commitment to road safety.
The latter, while it has been hosted virtually for the past two years due to the pandemic, is ordinarily hosted at Parliament House in November.
To learn more about the service visit https://rtssv.org.au/ or call 1300 367 797 to access the free counselling service.