Aussie mum Wendy Bradbury’s plea to drivers after son Lewis dies in crash in Foster in Victoria

Grieving mother Wendy Bradbury says cost should be no barrier when it comes to an important road safety issue. See the video.

Wearing a locket filled with the ashes of her eldest son Lewis, Wendy Bradbury says she doesn’t fear death anymore because it means she’ll see him again.

“I’ve gone past the point of thinking I want to join him,” she said.

“But if I went to the doctor tomorrow and they said I had three months to live, it would be sad for my family and to leave them behind, but it’s sort of a win as well because I’d be back with Lewis.”

Watch her tell her story in our video above.

Wendy and Mark Bradbury, parents of Lewis, considered moving from their home after their son died. Picture: Alex Coppel

Lewis Bradbury saw his family for the last time at home in Foster, in southern Victoria, on February 13, 2022. They finished their weekly Sunday roast before he drove to his girlfriend Ella’s* place in Melbourne, about 90 minutes away.

Lewis Bradbury died after crashing into an incoming truck. Picture: Alex Coppel

He took her out for Valentine’s Day dinner the following night and didn’t care that he had to leave before sunrise on Tuesday morning to get to work at a service station by 6am.

Towards the end of the dinner, Ella received a text from her ex asking if she could come over because his father had been diagnosed with cancer.

Wendy knows what happened next because, months later, she read their text exchange.

“He waited up all night for her, and he kept messaging her asking what was going on,” she said.

Ella said that her ex needed her, urging Lewis to go to sleep, but he insisted on waiting for her to return. By 4am, he was in such a state that a friend picked him up and took him to a lookout.

The friend offered Lewis a bed at his place, but he declined – adamant that Ella would return. She never did.

By the time he left Melbourne for work at about 5am, he was broken-hearted, sleep-deprived, and running very late. He had piled all the possessions he usually kept at Ella’s place into his Honda.

Lewis was driving at 100km/h along the South Gippsland Highway near Bena, about 45 minutes away from the service station where he worked, when he fell asleep at the wheel and veered into the path of a 12-tonne truck.

The truck driver saw Lewis’ car coming towards him, on the wrong side of the road, and tried to manoeuvre out of the way – into the opposite lane.

From the truck’s dashcam, it appeared as though Lewis woke up, realised he was in the wrong lane and swerved back into the left lane – right into the truck.

Wendy wishes her son had driven her car instead as it had more safety features. Picture: Alex Coppel

The force of the crash sent Lewis’ Honda skidding 100 metres across the road before it exploded. He died on impact.

The truck tipped over and burst into flames, the driver only survived because passers-by helped him escape.

Wendy often wonders whether Lewis would have died if he was driving her car, which was the same car he learned to drive in. It’s newer than Lewis’ Honda, and with a number of sensors, alarms, speed monitors, and other lifesaving features.

“I’ve got a car with so many safety things that I can’t even go into the middle of the road without it telling me that I need to stop,” Wendy said.

“It’s a pretty loud alarm and tells you if you’re going to have a collision, and that would have woken him up. If only he had been driving my car.”

Vehicles with safety features are newer models with higher price points, but Wendy says cost shouldn’t be a barrier.

“At the moment they’re only for people who can afford these things and that’s not fair, it means people’s lives aren’t valued if they don’t have money,” she said.

“All cars should have these safety features.”

Wendy slept in Lewis’ room for months after he died because it helped her feel closer to him, but eventually moved out because she decided it wasn’t healthy for her to stay.

For a while, she contemplated ending her own life so she could be with her son.

“We did actually look at moving away from here because, in some strange way, we were thinking that you could move away from the grief, but we came to our senses and realised the grief is going to go with us wherever we are,” she said.

“We’ve put a lot of work into a remembrance corner for him with a carving of Lewis holding a surfboard because he loved surfing, so hopefully that will be finished next year.”

She urged drivers to stay away from a vehicle unless they’re certain that they’re fit to drive.

“If you don’t believe you’re 100 per cent able to get into a car and drive it, for whatever reason, then don’t do it because if you don’t return home, that decision will impact your family and friends for the rest of their lives,” she said.

“Stop and think whether you would want your loved one to make that decision.”

*Name has been changed.

Originally published as Aussie mum Wendy Bradbury’s plea to drivers after son Lewis dies in crash in Foster in Victoria