Don't be a statistic or ruin a life, change your behaviour

The campaign launched yesterday by The Gympie Times and News Corp aims to make drivers think twice about their behaviour

Total fatalities on Queensland roads. Picture: Toni Benson-Rogan

NOTHING can prepare you for the sudden impact of a car crash or motorbike accident, and few of us would be lucky enough - or smart enough - to get through life without experiencing one.

Though they are sometimes due to circumstances beyond our control, crashes often occur because of driver behaviour: being distracted, tired, texting, phoning, eating, speeding, driving recklessly.

When I was 15, I was skylarking on my father's ag bike while carrying a passenger and we hit a rut and crashed. We were not going fast. I snapped both bones in my lower leg and ruined the party my parents were throwing that night.

If I or my cousin had landed differently the force that snapped those bones could have snapped something vital and forever changed both our families. Thank god it was just a leg.

The campaign launched yesterday by The Gympie Times and News Corp aims to make drivers think twice about their behaviour.

The state road toll of 220 is too high. Christmas is coming. Families are travelling to be with each other. Some families will have to endure Christmas without precious loved ones lost to that road toll.

Complacency is a killer.

Put down your phones, stop being in a hurry and pay attention when you are driving. Don't become the next casualty or the person who destroys your family or another family.

Photo Renee Albrecht/Gympie Times. Picture: Renee Albrecht