Be aware behind the wheel

EVERYTIME we get behind the wheel we have the potential to be in a crash.

It might be your mistake, or another road user – but the odds are there.

There were 1227 people killed and 35,000 seriously injured in 2017.

I’m someone who has been in a crash that could have been fatal, and the fear has never left me.

More than five years later, any time I am driving on a wet multi-lane highway I have flashbacks.

It happened so quickly. A speeding car spun out of control across three lanes of traffic.

You only get a second to react and it is never enough time.

I ended up being the fourth car in the pile-up with a fifth also rear-ending my car.

You hear multi-car pile-up on the Pacific Motorway and assume the worst, but all occupants miraculously escaped uninjured.

Today starts National Road Safety Week, and data released shows the Toowoomba, Ipswich and Surat Basin region is the state’s second-most deadly area.

173 lives were lost last year compared to 74 in Brisbane and the Gold Coast.

That is potentially 173 families in our region who lost a loved one last year.

But most drivers will get in the car today and won’t think anything will happen to them.

So, stop and think... is that text, driving faster to get somewhere or that extra drink really worth it?