Police hope horror crashes ‘shock’ NSW motorists into driving safely
FRIENDS and colleagues have sent messages of support to rising star of the big and small screen Jessica Falkholt as the actor fights for her life in the wake of a horrific Boxing Day car accident.
NSW
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EDITORIAL: Record road toll must be curbed
FRIENDS and colleagues have sent messages of support to rising star of the big and small screen Jessica Falkholt as the actor fights for her life in the wake of a horrific Boxing Day car accident.
The 28-year-old actor plays the title character in upcoming Australian film, Harmony, and was previously known for her work on popular TV drama, Home and Away.
Actors from the soap took to social media to express their support for Falkholt in her recovery yesterday.
“Thinking of you,” Pia Miller wrote on Instagram.
Falkholt’s parents, along with the 50-year-old driver of the other car, were killed in the accident while her younger sister, Annabelle, is also in a critical condition.
“Can we please send all our support, love and prayers to Jess and her sister Annabelle, fighting for their lives after their crash on boxing day,” Home and Away actor Jackson Heywood wrote. “Much love darlin. Im with ya. May u both make a full recovery. I cannot stress enough to please drive safe these holidays guys. Love ya.”
Teenager Olivia Deeble joined the show at the same time as Falkholt, the pair playing relatives.
“Can I ask that you join me in sending all your loving and healing thoughts to Jess her sister and the whole Falkholt family,” Deeble wrote with an image of the pair together on screen.
More broadly, Channel Seven issued a statement of support.
“The Home and Away family send their love and support to Jessica, her sister and other family and friends. News like this is always difficult to comprehend. At this time of year, when loved ones gather, it’s especially tragic. Although her time on set was brief, once a part of the Home and Away family, always part of the family. Jessica’s outstanding talent and professional attitude left an impression on us all.“
Represented by Lisa Mann Management, Falkholt will be seen on the big screen with her big break in upcoming fantasy thriller, Harmony.
“Jess is an incredibly talented woman and she has an amazing future ahead of her,” director Corey Pearson told The Daily Telegraph. “We wish her and her sister Annabelle a speedy recovery. From the cast and the crew, we are all here for her and sending our best wishes. It is an absolute tragedy, two very close friends have had serious accidents involving their parents in the past five days. So a note to everyone, be careful on the roads, don’t drive fatigued.”
Harmony co-star Jacqueline McKenzie sent her well wishes on Twitter.
“Jess is a brilliant, kind, beautiful actress with whom I had the very great pleasure of working on the feature Harmony, in which she had the lead role. Am keeping her and her sister in my heart and prayers. This is utterly devastating news.”
The deaths of Lars Falkholt, 69, and Vivian Falkholt, 60, and those of another 19 people over the holiday season brought the NSW’s road toll to 387 — the deadliest since 2009. It comes as police said they hoped the stark images of this month’s fatal crashes would “shock” motorists into driving responsibly.
The close-knit Falkholt family was driving home to Sydney up the Princes Hwy after a short break when police believe a Toyota Prado being driven in the opposite direction crossed to the other side of the road and hit them head-on south of Sussex Inlet.
The 4WD driver, 50-year-old Ulludulla man Craig Anthony Whitall, also died in the inferno as other motorists risked their lives to pull the critically injured sisters from the back of their parents’ Mazda.
Assistant Commissioner Michael Corboy said the photographs of the wreckage from the 18 fatal crashes since Operation Safe Arrival began on December 15 should be a harsh lesson to drivers.
Seven people died in crashes on Boxing Day, including Rebecca Cindy Hampson, 25, whose car left the Pacific Hwy at Glenthorne, south of Taree, and smashed into trees.
“We want people to shock themselves,” Mr Corboy, the state’s Traffic and Highway Patrol Commander, said.
“It’s now time to have people thinking that could be me, that could be my family or that could be an innocent person that I ran into.
“We want them to take responsibility. We have gone from disappointed to being angry and that’s an understatement.”
Popular actor Jessica Falkholt, 28, was flown to St George Hospital and Annabelle, 21, was flown to Liverpool Hospital where they remained in intensive care last night as relatives rushed to their bedsides.
Jessica has appeared in two roles on Home and Away and was also in Underbelly: Badness after graduating from the National Institute of Dramatic Art in 2015. Her NIDA profile said she was Swedish on her father’s side and Italian on her mother’s side.
“They were a very close family and had been on a quiet getaway,” a family friend said.
“Jessica is a most beautiful person.”
Police said they were “investigating the behaviour” of Mr Whitall just prior to the accident after talking to witnesses but could not tell if he was using his mobile phone because the cars were both incinerated.
Three of the fatal crashes since the beginning of Operation Safe Arrival have involved cars drifting into oncoming traffic on the opposite side of the road.
‘The message to anyone looking at these photographs is, ‘Will this finally get the message through to you?’ ” a frustrated Mr Corboy said.
“Will the deaths of these people mean that you will take responsibility and think about others on the road and not just yourselves?”
There have been 387 lives lost on the state’s roads so far this year, already more than the total of 380 last year. In the past decade, only 2009 was more deadly with 408 deaths.
Eleven of the accidents during the holiday period involved vehicles crashing off the road and hitting trees or rolling.
Mr Corboy said that the evidence pointed to incidents fatigue, speed and “cases of foolish driving”.
“Many of these incidents are totally preventable if people would just slow down, rest and not be distracted during their trip,” he said.
So far this holiday period, police have issued 50,252 infringements including catching 13,430 speeding drivers, with a driver from Portugal caught doing 160km/h through the 60km/h works zone outside the new Frenchs Forest hospital.
They have carried out 433,838 breath tests, charging 758 drivers with drink-driving including one woman who allegedly blew almost five times the legal limit after crashing into three parked cars in Summer Hill.
