‘Heart-stopping’ event prompts plea
AWimmera mother of three who nearly lost her children in a truck-rollover incident south-west of Horsham is pleading for motorists to take better care on the roads.
It was just another day for Lower Norton’s Cassy Kelly and her family earlier this month, with mum getting ready for work while children Neeve, 13, Harper, 8, and Eamon, 10, set out to catch the school bus.
But nothing could have prepared Mrs Kelly for the moments that followed, when she heard a loud bang and the sound of her children screaming.
With barely a breath in between, she ran as fast as she could out to the road to see a truck carrying hundreds of sheep had rolled, stopping within metres of where her children were standing.
“As soon as I heard the screaming, I thought something had happened to the kids,” she said.
“I could only see my two daughters and couldn’t see my son. I panicked and started screaming out to my eldest child to call triple zero.
“When I got to the driveway, I saw my son had got out of the way, but went back because he dropped his computer.
“The truck was between two and three metres of where the kids were when it stopped.”
Horsham Police said the truck was travelling around a corner on Horsham-noradjuha Road between Carmichaels and Three Bridges roads when the driver lost control of the vehicle.
Emergency services took the 31-year-old truck driver to Wimmera Base Hospital with minor injuries. His multi-deck truck was carrying 600 sheep and more than 250 had died.
Mrs Kelly said as soon as she saw her children were okay, she went into ‘emergency management mode’.
“There was a lot of sheep and carnage,” she said.
“My children were upset and scared, and I kept telling my elder daughter to call triple zero.
“I went over and climbed to the front of the truck because I thought the driver might be unconscious – his eyes were open and I knew he was okay.
“No more than a minute from when it happened, the school bus pulled up to the accident scene.
“I don’t know why, but I asked the kids to go on the bus – I think it was just an instinctual reaction to get them out the area.”
She said in the hours and days that followed, the reality of how close her family came to tragedy had sunk in.
“I went to check the kids at school, and they were okay, but I had to pick one of them up later in the day because they were quite upset,” she said.
“It takes a few days for your mind to process and there was a lot of adrenalin. I couldn’t concentrate or function at my best for a few days.
“There’s lots of different things that could have played out – what if the bus was stopped there? What if I was waiting there with my car instead?
“There was even the chance of getting hit by a sheep – one landed right near the letter box where my kids were waiting.”
Seeing the emotional impact of the truck crash on her children has prompted Mrs Kelly to call out to motorists to be more attentive on the roads.
Mrs Kelly said the s-bend where the truck rolled was not an isolated incident.
She said in a 13-year period, her family had seen several truck and car crashes outside their property.
“This is the third sheep truck that has rolled since we’ve been here,” she said.
“We’ve also had two cars run through our fence at the s-bend area.
“If you’re not familiar with the road, you need to adhere to the limits and advisory signs.
“Even if you do know the road, you need to consider there might be children around or people out there along the side of the road. It’s no different to every other road.”
Mrs Kelly said she was writing a letter to Vicroads to either lower the speed limit or place more advisory signs at that section of road.
“The quality of the road is not poor in that section, and I feel like for that reason people do drive fast,” she said.
“I have often thought the speed zone is too high, especially considering there is a high number of residents along this road.
“The road is also fairly straight, so when you come up against the bend, you’re not necessarily expecting it.”