Road deaths take their toll

IT WAS a memorable Christmas Day, but for all the wrong reasons.

Sunday, December 25, 2011 — I was working the late shift during my first year as a newspaper reporter in North Queensland.

It was midafternoon when a report came in of a fatal crash about 40 minutes away.

A motorcycle rider trying out his new bike, which had been a Christmas gift, had lost control at a bend in the road crashing through the scrub and colliding with a tree.

The pillion passenger — a young woman and visitor to the region — didn’t survive.

The Christmas Road Safety Campaign kicked off yesterday, which will run until February and sees police out in force targeting traffic offences.

And Far Northern police are begging all drivers to do their part and pay attention to the fatal five especially with more traffic on the roads this time of year.

The road toll for the Far North is already sitting higher than 2017. To date there have been 23 lives lost, two more than last year, and 2018 isn’t over.

Most recently was 18-year-old Maddison Spyve, who had only recently finished school and had her whole life in front of her.

As a journalist I’ve been to my fair share of fatal traffic crashes and there are those that still haunt me.

I’ve spoken to the grieving families as they struggle to come to terms with the death of their loved one. And I’ve covered the subsequent court cases that can sometimes stem from a fatal crash.

These are tragic situations where there are no winners — only devastation and families whose lives are changed forever.