Search after dad’s death
Woman wants to find man in accident with her father
TEN years ago Rebecca Slade lost her dad in what was described as one of the worst traffic fatalities in the Dalby area.
It was one month before her 10th birthday.
Her dad, Jeffrey Slade, was driving to meet his family at the Sunshine Coast for a holiday.
The family, consisting of eight children, had gone ahead without him as Mr Slade had to do a few days extra work as a truck driver.
That was when the head-on collision occurred.
Mr Slade was driving in the family car on the Warrego Hwy near Dalby when a truck and his Ford Falcon collided.
Peranga Senior Constable Paul Vanderham said the truck driver could see the accident about to happen but had nowhere to turn and had to brace himself for the impact.
Ms Slade is now 20-years-old and is seeking out the truck driver.
Not so she can make him feel guilty, but to let him know that it’s okay and that life went on for her and her family despite losing their father.
“My mum told me that the truck driver went through a very traumatic experience as well. He was with my dad when he passed away at the scene and he has had to live with that for the past 10 years,” she said.
“I decided that on the 10-year anniversary I would seek out the truck driver and give him closure.
“He could turn around and say he doesn’t want to speak with me or relive it again and that’s fine but I want to reach out and let him know life moved on.
“I am still sad that my dad passed away but I am not traumatised by it; it is just part of my life. You learn to live with it.”
Ms Slade said one year after her dad died, her grandfather died in another trucking accident.
“I have grown up around trucks and my dad was the
coolest, he used to take me for trips,” she said.
“But two trucking deaths in a such a short period of time shook our family.
“My partner now works on the mines and is around
trucks every day and when I spoke to his work mates about the situation they encouraged me to reach out to this man.
“They said if something like that had happened to
them, they would really like it if the family got in contact to give them a bit of peace.”
Ms Slade can be contacted on Facebook under the username Rebecca-Sue Slade.
My mum told me that the truck driver went through a very traumatic experience. — Rebecca Slade