Faces of tragedy: The lives lost on South Australian roads in 2020
When police knocked on Anne-Marie Taplin’s door in October, they had devastating news.
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Almost three out of every five deaths on South Australian roads in 2020 were caused by distraction, which has risen to record levels, police have revealed.
SCROLL DOWN TO READ THE TRIBUTE TO HARRY TAPLIN-BARTON
SA’s top traffic cop says he is concerned the killer behaviour is worsening, while also expressing his disbelief at the 15 motorists who died because they failed to wear a seatbelt.
And the RAA has urged road users to help the state record its first fatality-free month during 2021.
There were 95 lives lost and 695 serious injuries – each the fourth-lowest on record – in SA during 2020. But police are urging the public to alter their view on road deaths.
Traffic Services Branch officer-in-charge Superintendent Bob Gray said people needed to look at the human toll rather than comparative numbers from year to year.
“It’s like having cancer. It’s just cancer until it affects you or someone you love,” Superintendent Gray said.
“One person who loses their life on the road has tragic and significant consequences for a raft of people.
“There are 95 families plus loved ones, colleagues and communities that are heavily affected.
“There have been 695 injury crashes. Some of those people will take years to recover and some of those people’s quality of life is now finished.”
SA Police figures provided to The Advertiser reveal the contributing factors in road deaths during 2020. The breakdown of the fatal five causes of road trauma shows:
FIFTY-THREE deaths – or 56 per cent – attributed to distraction.
TWENTY-THREE deaths – or 24 per cent – attributed to excessive speeding.
AT LEAST 20 deaths – or 21 per cent – attributed to drink or drug-driving.
FIFTEEN deaths – or 16 per cent – attributed to not wearing a seatbelt.
THIRTY deaths – or 32 per cent – attributed to dangerous behaviour.
There are some deaths where Major Crash officers have identified more than one contributing factor during an investigation and, as such, both are included.
Superintendent Gray said he was concerned at the rate of distraction-related deaths, which were increasing each year on the state’s roads.
He said 193 out of 451 lives lost – or 42.8 per cent – were attributed to distraction between 2015 and 2019. One in three fatalities over the past decade is directly linked to inattention.
“People need to think more broadly (about distraction) than just a media device or a phone,” Superintendent Gray told The Advertiser.
“There are all sorts of causes for distraction – passengers, changing airconditioning settings, changing CD players.
“There are a whole lot of tragic situations that have occurred where people were not using their mobile phone.
“They were doing something else in their vehicle when they were not paying attention and obviously if you’re travelling at speed in the country the consequences can be a lot worse.”
There were 21 motorcyclist deaths – 19 riders and two passengers – in 2020, compared with 17 lives lost during 2019 and more than double the 10 fatalities in 2018.
The State Government last November proposed increasing the minimum age for a motorbike learner’s permit and imposing extensive restrictions in a plan to reform motorcycle licensing.
Superintendent Gray said motorcyclists were significantly over-represented in the number of lives lost and described them as “a very hard cohort to cut through to change their behaviour”.
“A lot of our motorcycle lives lost are people engaging in high-risk behaviour. A lot of them have never held the appropriate licence or any motorbike licence,” he said.
“They generally drive dangerously so they leave the road out of control. They are generally associated with drugs and alcohol because they are high-risk behaviours.”
SA Police media road safety unit manager Richard Blackwell said police campaigns were targeted at people whose behaviour they believed they could reasonably influence.
“A lot of fatal drink-drivers are repeat offenders or recidivist drink-drivers. It’s not the first time they’ve done it and it’s not the first time they’ve had a crash or being caught,” he said.
“Their drink-driving is probably symptomatic of broader lifestyle dysfunctional issues rather than being the problem itself.
“We go after the middle ground more often reflected in the serious injuries so we are probably trying to stop them becoming a serious injury or a serious injury becoming a fatal.”
Superintendent Gray said there was a higher than average proportion of regional fatalities in 2020 – 73 per cent, compared with 70 per cent over the past five years.
“What continues to alarm us is the fact that a number of those people are residing in the police district in which they get killed,” he said.
“There’s a perception in regional South Australia that it’s the people in the city getting killed and that’s a true to a degree.
“There have been 69 lives lost in the country and 57 per cent lived in the police district in which they died.
“Twenty-seven of those 69 – or 39 per cent – lived within 20km of where they died. A lot of that is attributed to people being complacent.”
Mr Blackwell added regional SA had a “fatalistic attitude” towards a high road toll being part of country life.
Superintendent Gray said it “defied common sense” that 15 motorists died in 2020 because they failed to wear a seatbelt.
“A lot of people make the conscious decision they don’t want to be told what to do, they don’t want to wear a seatbelt,” he said.
“Modern cars are incredible because they will sound alarms and people will put up with that but they won’t wear a seatbelt.”
Mr Blackwell added that failing to wear a seatbelt was often linked to drunk drivers. “If you’re climbing into your car that toasted a seatbelt probably doesn’t come to mind,” he said.
“Some people might take the view that drink or drug-driving or speeding can impair you to the point of having a crash where as not wearing a seatbelt is not going to lead you to having a crash it just mitigates the outcome of a crash if you have one.”
Mr Blackwell said research showed drivers who failed to wear a seatbelt were performing “a miniature act of defiance” inside a vehicle.
“I’m in charge of my own destiny. I’m not going to be told what to do. It’s my own choice whether or not to wear seatbelt, which all reasonable people think is pretty stupid,” he said.
Superintendent Gray said an increase in risky behaviour on the roads countered the 35 per cent drop in traffic during the first coronavirus lockdown.
“(There) was a huge increase in people’s behaviour in terms of risk-taking, alcohol, drugs and extremely excessive speeds,” he said. “The people on the roads were making silly decisions.”
Mr Blackwell added the pandemic had caused a “grim sense among some people that the world was going to end anyway so they had nothing to lose so the risk-taking went up”.
He cited an increase in drug taking and gambling as well as drinking at home during the day.
“Speeding in some cases was the opportunity to relieve some boredom,” Mr Blackwell said.
RAA safety and infrastructure senior manager Charles Mountain said road users should aim for SA’s first fatality-free month during 2021.
The lowest number of monthly deaths since 2005 was recorded in June 2020, when two people died. There have been six instances in the past 16 years of three fatalities in a month.
“It would be great to see 2021 be the year we record no fatalities in at least one month of the year, which is something we have not achieved to my knowledge,” Mr Mountain said.
“We’re so keen to leave behind so many bad memories of 2020 but in terms of a goal for road users to achieve that would be a good target.”
Mr Mountain said 2020 had been a difficult year on SA roads with an upward trend in the number of lives lost and serious injuries – a pattern that was reflected across Australia.
“That’s one of the reasons we’ve so strongly advocated for ongoing investment in road safety initiatives to curb this trend,” he said.
“Unfortunately, we’re still seeing a serious over-representation of people who lose their lives on our regional road network.
“While we welcome big infrastructure spending this really can’t come quick enough to address what we see as an unacceptably high level people losing their lives on our regional roads.”
Road Safety Minister Vincent Tarzia urged South Australians to learn from the preventable road tragedies of 2020 and change for the better in 2021.
“We have seen lives destroyed, families torn apart, and unnecessary suffering caused by crashes on South Australian roads in 2020,” Mr Tarzia said.
“It is devastating to think about the pain and agony that follows the loved ones of those who have lost their lives.”
Mr Tarzia pleaded with all road users to remain safe in 2021. He said responsibility rested with every individual and urged people to “be honest with yourself”.
“Do it to keep yourself safe, to protect your family, and to save those who could be injured by your selfish behaviour,” he said.
“Look out for our vulnerable road users, cyclists and pedestrians. Be aware of motorcyclists, who we know are over-represented in the number of deaths and serious injuries on our roads.
“Remember our emergency first responders – the people who respond without hesitation to horrific road crashes to save lives.”
The official lives lost figure is subject to change since anyone who dies within 30 days of a crash may be added and other explanations can be identified in deaths already included.
Losing Harry was most horrific day of my life
When police knocked on Anne-Marie Taplin’s door in October, she could not imagine the devastating news they were about to share.
The officers told Ms Taplin that her 19-year-old son, Harry Taplin-Barton, had been killed while riding his motorbike on a country road in the Adelaide Hills.
“I think the worst I could comprehend was that Harry was in hospital but not that he’d been killed,” said Ms Taplin, who had returned to her Mount Barker home after picking up her younger son, George, 16, just half an hour before police arrived.
“It was the most horrific day of my life.”
Harry had been riding his motorbike home from his father’s Brukunga property on October 5 when he lost control and crashed into a tree on a straight stretch of Ironstone Range Road at Petwood.
The apprentice carpenter was on his L-plates but Ms Taplin believed a kangaroo or car caused him to veer to the left of the dirt road and into a ditch.
She said her son was a shy young man who loved his work and spent every minute of his spare time working on projects, fixing cars and selling parts.
“Sometimes I’d hear these guys who’d come around to buy parts saying ‘Are you a mechanic?’ and Harry would laugh,” she said.
“He was really humble and had a beautiful, self-deprecating smile and would say ‘No, I just like cars’.”
Ms Taplin said she visited the crash site, where she built a roadside tribute in her son’s memory, every week.
“I’ll never forget saying goodbye to Harry’s body and seeing the damage that tree did to him,” she said. “There’s this idea that we should get over our grief but you never want to get over the loss of a child.”
Ms Taplin said people never expected fatal crashes to happen to anyone they knew or loved.
“We think we’re so powerful and strong but really we’re just incredibly fragile and we’re no match for a tree,” she said.
Ms Taplin said she would like to see more restrictions in place for learner riders in South Australia, including raising the age to qualify for a licence to 25.
In November, the State Government proposed new laws, including raising the minimum age for obtaining a motorbike learner’s permit from 16 to 18.
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