Police Commissioner Grant Stevens spoke about road deaths just days before his son Charlie was hit

Just days before his son Charlie was hit by a car, Grant Stevens took to radio to plead with SA to cut our soaring road toll. As we hit 100 victims this year, here’s what he said.

Fewer than three days before his son was the victim of an alleged hit-run, Police Commissioner Grant Stevens spoke live on radio about the effects of the climbing road toll.

Now his son Charlie Stevens has become victim 101 for the year.

It comes after a man and woman lost their lives in a horror double fatal in Willalooka just before 10am on Saturday, bringing SA’s total number of deaths on the road to 100.

On FIVEaa’s breakfast show Wednesday morning, Mr Stevens spoke about the tragedies that come from crashes on SA roads.

“What we need to remember is every death impacts on so many people,” Mr Stevens said.

“It’s family members, it’s work colleagues, it’s sporting clubs, friends, it’s part of the community, it’s the hospitals, it’s the emergency services workers.

“Every single death has this ripple effect right through our community, and I think you guys were talking about it the other week about you know, the focus we get on a shark attack and there is this flippancy around road deaths.”

Charlie Stevens has died after being hit by a car while attending schoolies. Picture: Supplied

Mr Stevens’ 18-year-old-son, Charlie, sustained irreversible brain injuries after being hit by a car just after 9pm on Friday at Goolwa, as Victor Harbor Schoolies Festival continued a few towns over.

Deputy Commissioner Linda Williams and Premier Peter Malinauskas struggled to hold back tears during an emotional press conference as they confirmed Charlie was in hospital on life support.

Mr Stevens said when tragic accidents happen “it features in a news break a couple of times in the morning, maybe the six o’clock news at night and then we move on to the next day”.

“The families are left with the devastating outcome of a family member gone as a result of road fatalities and we (the public) move on.”

But deaths on our roads are not the only tragic outcome that occurs as a result of a major crash.

People have begun leaving flower tributes the scene of the crash on Beach Road, Goolwa. Picture: Morgan Sette

“Let’s not forget about the 700-odd people who have experienced serious injuries, many of those life-altering injuries, that we don’t even talk about,” he said.

“People who may never walk again, have acquired brain injuries.

“Family members who have to provide nursing care to loved ones because of a decision they made on the road that didn’t kill them, but left them with horrific injuries that they’ve got to work through for potentially for the rest of their lives.”

“It’s a significant increase from one year to another,” Mr Stevens said.

On Saturday, the official road death toll reached 100 lives lost for the first time since 2019, compared with 61 this time last year.