Anna Caldwell: Tougher P-plate rules, better driver education can save our teens

As loved ones say final goodbyes to the Buxton five, thrill-seeking on our roads persists — it’s time to talk about tougher P-plate laws and better driver education, writes Anna Caldwell.

Pallbearers at the funeral service for Tyrese Bechard one of the Buxton crash victims. Picture: Jonathan Ng

As the small town of Buxton buried the first of five teens killed in a horror crash yesterday, my mind was pulled back to thoughts of another four young people who died on a different dark country road back in 2008.

It was my first year as a journalist and my main job was reporting on road fatalities.

And there were many of them. I used to speak almost weekly to the family of beautiful baby Jet, who was killed when a driver had an epileptic fit and ploughed into his mum’s car.

Jet’s family fought courageously to change the law to have drivers report medical conditions.

Then there were stories of teens killed on country roads and truck drivers who went to work and never came home.

Along the journey to Bruce Rock, The Sunday Times photographer encountered a number of crosses representing fatalities on the road.

All of them were devastating deaths that could have been prevented.

But one crash, outside the small town of Warwick in Queensland, has always stuck with me.

Abby Ezzy, Max Thorley, Nick Nolan and Brett McKenzie had been on a night out before they were wiped out after crossing on to the wrong side of the highway in January 2008.

They were among Warwick’s best and brightest – a young crew of two teens, a 20-year-old and a 21-year-old who had had all of life’s opportunities awaiting them. Their deaths changed the town forever.

My former colleague from Brisbane’s The Courier Mail, Leanne Edmistone, revisited Warwick five years after the fatalities, in 2013, to check in with the school mates of the four who died.

“Theirs is a mateship heavily tested,” her report said.

“A bond formed in classrooms and on footy fields now forged unbreakable through sudden loss, howling grief and the numb emptiness knowing one is gone forever”.

The scene of the crash which killed four teenagers in Warwick, QLD in 2008.

The school mates had grown up and experienced all the firsts their mates never would.

Some had left the small town, others still had to travel the same road where four bright lights were extinguished.

One had told his new girlfriend all the stories about the mate he lost.

For all, pain kept a vice-like grip on their lives.

The folks left behind after a road death often give journalists the privilege of inviting them into their living room.

This week we’ve learned stories of the special five killed at Buxton – Gabrielle McLennan (a star player for the Picton Magpies), Tyrese Bechard (known as a respectful young man), Summer Williams (vibrant and enthusiastic), Antonio Desisto (happy and humble) and Lily Van De Putte (caring, empathetic and cheeky).

Families often share these stories in part so they can honour and pay tribute to their lost loved one but many often say it’s because they hope they can spread a message to stop others dying in vain.

And yet, it keeps on happening.

On the back of the Buxton horror, a fresh debate has already started over restrictions on P-plate drivers.

Pallbearers at the funeral service for Tyrese Bechard, one of the Buxton crash victims. Picture: Jonathan Ng

Tyrell Edwards, the driver in the Buxton crash, previously had his licence suspended twice but could legally get behind the wheel on a P2 licence.

In NSW, P1 drivers caught speeding incur four demerit points and lose their licence for at least three months – but can still attain a P2 licence after 12 months without penalty.

Edwards has now been charged by police with five counts of dangerous driving causing death.

Edwards will live a life of indescribable pain.

But many others have done precisely what he did without the horrific consequences.

John Van De Putte – the father of young victim Lily – has led the call for tougher rules.

“Laws for P-platers need to be more stringent,” Mr Van De Putte told The Australian.

“P-platers shouldn’t have passengers in the car, no mobile phones on, mobile phones have got to be in the back of the boot and you even get your licence a bit later”.

Parts of the wreckage found at the crash site where five young teenagers were tragically killed in Buxton. Picture: Gaye Gerard

NSW Labor confirmed this week they wanted a review of conditions on P-platers, particularly repeat offenders.

Bizarrely, Roads Minister Natalie Ward said she wanted to wait until the NSW coroner delivered a report into the deaths of the Buxton five before making a decision.

“The circumstances surrounding this event are still under investigation and I do not want to pre-empt the findings of the coroner’s report but we will of course be looking very closely at those findings once they are released.”

The strange comments seem to be borne from a fantasy land in which the tragedy of Buxton is the first and last case of its kind.

It is a miracle that there are not more multiple fatality crashes.

While we’re looking at P-plate restrictions, there must also be more we can do in driver education of young people. It’s obviously not working well enough.

Any girl will tell you she’s found herself in cars driven by boys going too fast.

They’ll also tell you how hard it is to speak up and tell them to slow down.

Thrill-seeking speeding persists, and we need to work to make it profoundly uncool.

People at the crash site in Buxton where five friends from Picton High School died in a single-vehicle car crash on Tuesday night. Picture: Jonathan Ng

We’ve done huge volumes of work on driver education in recent decades. We know, for example, the graduated P-plate scheme has helped. Since it was introduced in NSW, driver fatalities under 25 have dropped by 64 per cent.

But there’s more to do.

The scar of road fatalities on small towns is one that never goes away. A common thread is the ripple effect it has on communities.

From the first responders to the folks who just happen upon the crash.

From the hairdresser who cut their hair every two months since they were kids to the high school principal who watched them grow up.

It’s tragic that it has taken another five deaths to have the conversation again. We don’t need to wait for an inquest to tell us what we already know. Kids will keep dying on roads in deaths that are utterly preventable.

It’s up to us to find ways to turn the dial on behaviour.