Older drivers encouraged to think about their future on the road

Police say their new advertising campaign is designed to spark a tough conversation and will treat a controversial subject very sensitively.

Fed up with the number of elderly people dying on the roads, police will for the first time run an ad campaign targeting older drivers.

Police figures show people over 70 make up only 13 per cent of the SA population but 23 per cent of deaths in road crashes.

Between 2015-2019, an average of 23 elderly lives were lost and 94 senior road users suffered serious injuries every year.

The officer in charge of the campaign, Assistant Commissioner Ian Parrott, stressed it would be sensitive and respectful of older road users to “start a conversation”.

“This campaign is not about blaming or disempowering older South Australians,’’ he said.

Margaret Lange, 88, will star in the police road safety campaig. Picture: supplied.

“We have a responsibility to educate and positively influence the decisions of all road users in order to make the roads as safe as possible for every person.

“This campaign is designed to start a conversation between older drivers, their family members and medical carers.

“It’s about being prepared with options and supports to draw on if driving is becoming more stressful, scarier and therefore less safe.”

The campaign has the support of peak ageing group COTA, and campaign actor Margaret Lange, 88, of Dernancourt, is one of those thinking about her future on the road.

“I haven’t had any problem getting the licence renewed, but I did the typical farm thing and was driving at a very young age in the paddocks with Dad,’’ she said.

The campaign will be on TV, radio and print for the entire month of March next year, with a $250,000 production and $500,000 media budget.

It was filmed this week by Adelaide developer Sideways Theory, at Henley Beach, the CBD and Hallett Cove.

An actor in the campaign aimed at encouraging older drivers to get off the road if they are not confident. Photograph; SAPOL.

Mr Parrott acknowledged older drivers tended to be more cautious, broke the law less and crashed less, but crashes were more severe.

Studies have shown they commonly experienced cognitive decline, reduced physical capability or responsiveness, fragility and other medical problems, all of which compound the inherent dangers of the road.

SAPOL acknowledged the issue was highly emotive for senior drivers and their families, as safety concerns often conflicting with issues of self-identity or capability, independence and mobility.

In a “softly, softly” approach, older drivers are encouraged to recognise the signs of increasing vulnerability and start conversations with adult children and doctors.

The concept has been extremely well received by senior drivers and their adult children.

They found the scenarios relevant and highly relatable, and said they could see themselves and/or their parents experiencing the events.

Holly Scott. Picture: Naomi Jellicoe

‘I can’t run or jump for joy – but I am alive’

By Rebecca Whitfield-Baker

Petite Scott’s warm smile and air of self-possession hide the heartbreaking fact the once keen sportswoman can no longer run or even jump for joy.

Four years ago, then 22, she defied the odds to survive a horror crash in the Adelaide Hills which left her car “wrapped around a tree”.

She would spend 15 days in a coma before moving to Hampstead Rehabilitation Centre to start a gruelling process of learning to walk and talk again. As well as sustaining a brain injury, she suffered a shattered pelvis, fractured vertebrae and broke her hip, tailbone and both legs.

Holly defied the odds to survive this crash. Picture: SA Police

“I even had to learn to roll on to my tummy again … learning to walk was a massive process, I went from a wheelchair to a walking frame to two walking sticks to one,” Holly said.

“The recovery is ongoing; I still can’t run; I still can’t jump or stand for long periods of time.

“I used to love playing basketball and running and I hate that I can’t run. I hate that I can’t jump for joy.

“I have metal rods and pins holding my body together. My brain injury means there are things I struggle with every day.”

The brave young woman wants to use her traumatic experience to educate others about the devastating effects of car accidents beyond lost lives.

Holly in hospital after the 2017 crash. Picture: Holly Scott

Holly with exercise physiologist Stephen Bateman during a recovery session. Picture: Tom Huntley

During the week, the allied health student was named as SAPOL’s first-ever road safety ambassador and a major focus of her role will be working with the state’s year-11 students.

“There are so many messages I want to get across,” she said.

“People need to understand you are not invincible and that anything can happen, even when you are doing the right thing.

“(I want people to see) beyond the headline. It wasn’t just a 22-year-old girl who had a car accident, that was me (but) you don’t see how my life changed and what I have to live with.”

In the five years to 2020, 96 people aged between 16 and 24 lost their lives on South Australian roads, with 703 sustaining serious injuries.

“Two weeks after my 22nd birthday I was fighting to stay alive … the extent of some of the injuries (in the brain injury ward) terrified me,” Holly said.

As part of planned presentations, the chilling triple-0 call made when a trapped and barely conscious Holly was discovered will be played, something she heard for the first time only recently.

“I just went into shock … hearing that voice recording (takes you) there and then in the moment. It is a lot,” she said.

“I don’t know how I am going to go listening to it all the time but I want that impact, I want kids to realise this isn’t just someone talking, it is a real story.”

SAPOL Road Safety Centre program co-ordinator Susan O’Connor said being able to share Holly’s experience with the 75,000 participants her section reached each year was “huge”.

“For her to stand up and say, ‘This is what happens when things go wrong; I now have a traumatic brain injury that I will have forever’ … it really resonates,” she said.

“You see it on their faces. She is young like them.”

To find Holly on social media go to @hollyscott.roadsafety

The brave face of Holly Scott, SAPOL's first Road Safety Ambassador … four years on for a horror crash in the Adelaide Hills she continues to fight back against the injuries she sustained and is determined to educate other young drivers. Picture: Naomi Jellicoe