Grieving mum’s plea over tired drivers
To listen to her daughter’s infectious peals of laughter, Kim Davis-Ware replays a video saved to her phone.
It is comforting but it will never erase the memory of identifying her only child’s body on a hospital bed or of the car wreckage her daughter was pulled from that fateful autumn morning.
Charlotte-Rose Clark-Ware was driving to school when a 66-year-old Australian driver, who had rented a car and began a five-hour drive in the early hours of the morning, crossed the centreline and drove into Charlotte’s car.
Both drivers died at the scene. While the coroner would ultimately determine the circumstances behind the crash on May 8 last year, the Australian driver got off a flight from Melbourne in the early hours of the morning, rented a car and began the drive to New Plymouth, O¯ torohanga police Senior Sergeant Andy Connors said. Those circumstances suggested fatigue may have been a contributing factor.
Davis-Ware believes the other driver’s sleep deprivation killed her daughter.
‘‘If [the other driver] had gone and slept, Charlotte would potentially still be here today,’’ she said.
Ahead of the coroner’s inquiry into
Charlotte’s death, Davis-Ware is pleading for people – including the coroner – to take fatigued driving as seriously as drunk or drugged driving.
It should not be so easy for a foreign traveller to hop off a plane and get behind the wheel on unfamiliar roads, she said.
Charlotte was Davis-Ware’s only child, the only grandchild, the family’s future, ‘‘our world’’.
In a letter sent to the coroner, DavisWare wrote about a daughter who did not stop fighting battles until she had won.
‘‘On that note, I have a battle that I hope perhaps you can put into consideration when making decisions in my daughter’s case.’’
Drivers falling asleep at the wheel are killing people but it is not talked about enough, Davis-Ware said in the letter, referencing research suggesting fatigue can be as bad as driving over the alcohol limit.
And sleep-deprived international visitors, driving straight after a long flight, posed a risk to others, she said.
Davis-Ware asked that awareness and preventive measures – such as testing travellers for driving capabilities after long haul flights – be considered. Or a mandatory period of rest between getting off a flight and into a rental car.
Almost 10 months after Charlotte’s crash, Davis-Ware feels like she is still in shock. A pastel coloured scrapbook bearing the words ‘‘Stay Magical’’, made by Te Awamutu College, is perched on Davis-Ware’s mantelpiece, showing Charlotte in a butter yellow tutu and pink ball gown made by her mum.
When police officers turned up at her work, it was not until they handed her Charlotte’s pale pink wallet that Davis-Ware began to believe what they were telling her.
Hours later she was identifying her daughter at the hospital.
‘‘I still can’t get that image out of my head.’’
Days later, Charlotte was buried in a coffin painted with bright yellow sunflowers.
Davis-Ware prefers to remember Charlotte’s laugh. One of her favourite videos is, after she walked into her work – a wedding business – to find Charlotte ‘‘prancing’’ around in a veil.
‘‘I walked in and she just burst out laughing. It is pretty much how I will always remember her.
‘‘It was just so hilarious.’’ Davis-Ware hopes more drivers will begin taking more responsibility for their tiredness, especially as it is a hard thing for police to measure.
‘‘When you are in a vehicle, you have got everybody’s life in your hands. ‘‘They say that time heals but no.
‘‘It gets harder.’’