Kellie Postle talks about youngest daughter’s learner licence plans and her son’s driving four years after crash death

Four years after her teenage daughter was killed after a crash in a car driven by a P-plater, a brave mum has spoken about her trauma as her youngest daughter prepares to get behind the wheel. WATCH THE VIDEO

Kellie Postle whose daughter Alyssa died in a car crash in 2020 talks about the family's fundraising since then, how they've been faring, in Newstead park, Brisbane. pic: Lyndon Mechielsen/Courier Mail

The parents of a teen killed in a car being driven by a P-plater are anxious about their youngest daughter getting her learner licence, while revealing they also pray their son will come home every time he gets behind the wheel.

Four years ago last month the Kellie and Troy Postle’s beloved daughter Alyssa, then only 17, died in a crash after a friend, who got her P-plates only two weeks before, lost control of the car she was driving into a power pole near Bray Park State High School.

The driver, who was a juvenile and cannot be named, and their other friends decided to race each other to a KFC restaurant after being turned away from Warner Tavern.

Ms Postle said since the crash she was worried every time her son Adam, now 23, went out in his car.

“I say a prayer he will come home safely,’’ she said.

“Funnily enough, Ella is very keen to drive. When I’ve talked to her about it she says ‘mum, there’s no way I will make wrong choices’.

“She’s very keen on (athletics) and knows a lot of older girls who drive, but I’ve banned her from getting in a car if there’s a P-plater driving.

“She does have some frustration around it but she understands.’’

Alyssa Postle in 2019. Picture: Facebook

The Postles have also been adamant with Ella that she install the Life360 app.

The family social tracking app allows parents to monitor their children when they are driving, including the speed, any hard braking or if a phone is being used while driving.

Ms Postle said Alyssa, a good girl who was outstanding in athletics and a strong student, had protested when they wanted her to use it while she drove.

The night of the crash, Alyssa had pleaded with her mum to be allowed to go out to the tavern with her friends.

They weren’t keen. It was a school night and told her she had to be home early.

The last message Ms Postle received from her beloved daughter was a text about their argument: “Hey mum I’m sorry I understand should be home by 8:30 xx”

Earlier that day, Alyssa dropped off Ella to netball practice.

“Ella told me she had a feeling that she needed to stop and watch her sister drive all the way round and out the carpark. That was the last time she saw her conscious,’’ Ms Postle said.

Kellie Postle whose daughter Alyssa died in a car crash in 2020 talks about the family's fundraising since then, and how they are coping. Picture: Lyndon Mechielsen

It has been a long, agonising journey since the family made the heartbreaking decision to allow the life support machines keeping Alyssa alive to be turned off, three days after the crash on August 11, 2020.

Ms Postle had a “mini nervous breakdown’’ after the driver of the car Alyssa was travelling in walked free from jail, with no conviction and a 12-month license suspension, after facing court on a charge of dangerous operation of a vehicle causing death.

One thing that has kept Ms Postle going has been her campaigning to tighten rules governing P-plate drivers.

She has also worked tirelessly to raise funds for and awareness of road safety among young people, particularly her work with You Choose and her blog Live4Lyss.

Last month she published on her blog a deeply moving video tribute to Alyssa, with never before seen images, after Ms Postle managed to access her daughter’s private TikTok account for the first time.

Amazingly, she personally approaches young people she thinks need to be aware of road safety, talking to them and handing out free Live4Lyss stickers.

Alyssa Postle pictured with her brother Adam and sister Ella.

Only this week, she shared on her blog the story of how she overheard a young girl at her local coffee shop talking about logging hours behind the wheel.

So, she got up and approached her, telling her Alyssa’s story and the devastating impact one bad decision had made on so many people.

Her fundraising recently also paid for the first free Moreton community You Choose education event, where about 100 parents and their children heard about making good driving choices. She also spoke out for National Wills Week, from September 9-15, a Queensland Public Trustee initiative that encouraged everyone to consider advance life planning now, rather than waiting.

“About a year after we lost Alyssa, my mother passed away. Each day without my mum and my daughter is a reminder that life is precious and shouldn’t be taken for granted,’’ she said.

“I feel like a piece of me is missing, but I think it will always feel this way.

“I cherish time with my husband Troy and my other two incredible children, Adam and Ella. “They are so strong and have had to endure so much pain in recent years, I wanted to do what I could to protect them if anything was to ever happen to me.”

She said the decision to update their wills took more than a year because of their struggles to cope with Alyssa’s loss.

Kellie and Troy Postle are the parents of Alyssa Postle, 17, who was killed in a car crash four years ago.

But they now realised, more than most, how life could “turn on its head’’ in a moment.

Public Trustee of Queensland, Samay Zhouand encouraged people to make a will to ensure their wishes were known, heard and understood.

“Our research shows that 43 per cent of Queenslanders who have a will haven’t updated it in the past 10 years,’’ he said.

“Life is forever changing and your will should be changing with it.

“Your will is your chance to have your say about the distribution of your estate.”