Brushes with death prompt an art-felt safety appeal

ARTIST Aithnia Batchelor has never held a driver’s licence, she’s too scarred after seeing too many horrors on the road.

Haunted by fatal crashes since she was an infant, she’s created an artwork that symbolises those left behind, in the hope that it will make people stop and think.

‘‘It may be God, if you’re religious, it may be an animal. It may be an aunty or an uncle or a brother,’’ she said. ‘‘There’s always someone out there who loves you.’’

As a young child she was riding in her dad’s car when a motorcyclist crashed into it and died.

‘‘I was in the car; Dad had an old Essex car. I was with mymum and my sisters. This man came along on a bike and drove straight into my father’s car and killed himself. We all cried; it was just something you didn’t expect.’’

In 2012, two friends were killed in a crash near Motunui in Taranaki, and her daughter’s half-brother was only in his 20s when he was killed.

Then, just last month, she learnt one of her granddaughter’s friends had been dropped off at camp by her parents, who were both killed on the road on their way back to Whangerei. ‘‘My daughter was so devastated, she cried and I cried. I find it so depressing and sad that all these innocent people get killed.’’

Batchelor’s artwork, made of hessian shapes and acrylic paint, pleads for motorists to stop speeding, taking drugs or drinking while driving, and illustrates people left behind – a fisherman missing his son, a little girl who has lost her aunt and uncle, and even a jack russell terrier missing his ‘‘mate’’.

She created the road safety piece about a year ago but her grand-daughter’s friend’s tragedy made her decide to get it out.

She hoped a sponsor would come forward to distribute the artwork in poster form in schools, public areas or even on the back of buses.