Mel Hoskins, mother of crash victim Blaze, pleads with motorists to drive safely
SA’s road toll was kept under 100 in 2021, but that’s no reason to celebrate. Just ask Mel Hoskins.
SA News
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Mel Hoskins taught her teenage son how to control a car in dangerous conditions – but no amount of guidance could stop him falling asleep behind the wheel.
“Blaze wasn’t doing anything wrong. His toxicology report came back negative, there was nothing in his system, he wasn’t speeding … he just made a bad decision to drive tired and it cost him his life,” Ms Hoskins said.
Blaze Hoskins, 18, was travelling along the Sturt Highway, Kingston On Murray, when he crashed his Holden Commodore into a truck just before 6am on August 22.
The truck driver sustained minor injuries but Mr Hoskins, from Eden Valley in the Barossa, died at the scene.
His heartbroken mother does not want the young man’s death to be in vain and is pleading with motorists to take care this holiday season.
Mr Hoskins was driving early to get back to work at Riverland company Elite Netting, which installs netting over horticultural sites.
“I taught him to drive on the dirt. I taught him to drive in the wet. I taught him to get out of a slide – but you can’t teach someone not to fall asleep,” Ms Hoskins said.
Mr Hoskins was one of 72 people killed in regional road crashes – 17 of those were in the Barossa Valley region, including two double fatalities.
One of those crashes claimed the lives of Mr Hoskins’ friends Harley Litzow, 23, and Alex Wait, 20.
The young men were driving along Angaston Rd, Nuriootpa, where their ute crashed into a tree on March 20.
Mr Wait and Mr Litzow died at the scene, while a third man travelling in the tray of the vehicle was injured.
Ms Hoskins said she and her son were devastated by their deaths.
“I remember at their funeral saying no parent should have to go through this and then a few months later it’s me,” Ms Hoskins said.
Her only child, Ms Hoskins remembers the 18-year-old as caring, loving and kind.
“Blaze had a lot of difficulties growing up. He had autism and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, so he struggled a lot during life but he always told his friends, me, his friends parents, how much he loved us,” Ms Hoskins said.
“He was a very kind young man and he always spoke the truth.”
Mr Hoskins loved motorbikes, all things cars and, above all, family and friends.
“To all young people – don’t do anything stupid on the road, don’t drink, don’t take drugs, don’t drive tired, don’t speed. We’re just losing too many,” she said.
“We can’t stop murders but we can stop things that happen on the road if people would just slow down.
“It only takes one person to hear this message and it means that (Blaze’s) life wasn’t in vain.”
SERIOUS INJURIES SOAR, DISTRACTION A KILLER
Serious injuries on South Australian roads have risen to their highest level in a decade, while distraction has again proven to be the biggest killer, new figures reveal.
The state’s top traffic cop has bemoaned needless road casualties making bad decisions, including 13 motorists who died because they failed to wear a seatbelt.
There were 865 serious injuries – the most since 2011 – and 99 lives lost across SA in 2021.
Traffic Services Branch officer-in-charge Superintendent Bob Gray urged South Australians to look beyond the numbers to understand the true toll of road deaths and injuries.
“People continue to make bad decisions that have catastrophic outcomes,” Superintendent Gray told The Advertiser.
“It could be you, somebody you love, somebody you care about or somebody you work with. It’s not relevant until it happens to a family member or it happens to you.
“Some people have no quality of life after they’ve had a serious injury. You go from being a vibrant, fun-loving person with a career and plenty to look forward to, to … having to be cared for for the rest of your life.”
SA Police figures provided to The Advertiser reveal the contributing factors in the 99 road deaths during 2021. The breakdown of the fatal five causes of road trauma shows:
FORTY-SIX deaths (46 per cent) attributed to distraction.
THIRTY deaths (31 per cent) attributed to excessive speed.
THIRTEEN out of a possible 62 deaths (21 per cent) attributed to not wearing a seatbelt.
NINETEEN deaths (19 per cent) attributed to drink-driving.
EIGHTEEN deaths (18 per cent) attributed to dangerous behaviour.
FOURTEEN deaths (14 per cent) attributed to drug-driving.
There are some deaths where Major Crash officers have identified more than one contributing factor during an investigation so both are included.
Superintendent Gray said distraction was more than just using a mobile phone.
“It can be people playing with airconditioning settings, touching navigation devices, talking to their children, talking to their partner, doing all sorts of things in the cabin,” he said.
Police figures show there was a massive 140 per cent spike – from 15 in 2020 to 36 last year – in deaths among road users aged 50 to 69. A further 18 people aged 70 and above also died.
“The 70-plus age demographic represents 13 per cent of our community … and that’s something we’ve seen increasing over the past five years,” Superintendent Gray said.
“They are not involved in more crashes than anybody else but because of their fragility quite often what would be a minor crash for a younger person becomes catastrophic.”
The greatest increase in road user deaths were among pedestrians (150 per cent from two in 2020 to five in 2021) and cyclists (75 per cent from eight in 2020 to 14 in 2021).
Road Safety Minister Vincent Tarzia said: “Last year was incredibly hard for so many South Australians, especially those who lost loved ones in road tragedies.
“I’m pleading with every motorist to be responsible and safe on our roads in 2022.”
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