National Road Safety Week: Jennifer Goard, Kerry Bayliss share stories
Jennifer and Kerry’s lives were changed forever by the thoughtless actions of reckless drivers. Now they share a message.
South East
Don't miss out on the headlines from South East . Followed categories will be added to My News.
Bonbeach motorcyclist Jennifer Goard was on her way to visit her terminally ill brother when she nearly died in a freak accident at Mentone.
Ms Goard, then 55, was waiting to turn onto Nepean Hwy from Lower Dandenong Rd when the driver ahead of her ran an amber light on February 26, 2019.
Ms Goard came to a stop but the driver behind her didn’t, ramming his car into her motorbike and pinning her to the ground.
The mother of two’s leg jammed under her motorbike as she slammed face first into the road.
“I saw him coming down the hill behind me and I knew I wasn’t going to get out of it … I was deadset scared,” Ms Goard told the Leader.
Ms Goard was rushed to the Alfred Hospital suffering a broken leg, arm, nose and two ribs, crushed teeth and exhaust burns on her left leg and ankle.
A rider of close to four decades, Ms Goard said she would have had “no skin left” if she wasn’t wearing leather protective gear.
She remained in hospital for 10 days, also requiring resuscitation after enduring an anaphylactic fit due to an allergic reaction to medication.
Ms Goard was discharged to Frankston’s St John of God rehabilitation where she remained as an inpatient for five weeks and attended as an outpatient until September 2019.
She continues to experience pain in her leg.
Ms Goard told the Leader she had been left heartbroken over the crash as she believed it quickly brought on the death of her brother Eric who battled motor neurone disease.
She said the accident would “never have happened” if the man behind her was paying attention.
“I think people tend to go into a stupor when they’re driving … I wasn’t doing anything wrong and yet I ended up in the Alfred,” Ms Goard said in a message to drivers for National Road Safety Week.
“It’s not just the person who gets injured who is affected … it’s your family, the people who drive past on the road, the people who come and assist you.
“I’m one of the lucky ones, I still have all of my limbs but it’s taken a lot of work by myself and other people to come back after two years.”
Wonga Park woman Kerry Bayliss lost her husband Stephen Aldridge after ice addict David Allen fell asleep at the wheel and ploughed into his car on July 5, 2016.
Mr Aldridge was driving home from work along Break Oday Rd at Glenburn when Allen crashed into him from the opposite direction, pushing his van down an embankment.
Ms Bayliss had cooked a special dinner for her husband that night and became worried when he didn’t arrive home.
“I kept ringing his mobile but I couldn’t get hold of him. I was angry at first but then started to panic,” Ms Bayliss said.
“About 11pm the police knocked at the door and told me what happened. My world turned completely upside down.”
Ms Bayliss said she would never forget what followed.
“The next day I had to attend at the Coroner’s office to identify his body … he was all bloated from his injuries and had three deep wounds on his face and a hole under his chin,” she said.
“I remember trying to hug him and kiss him, and there were bits of fine shattered glass on his lips and in his hair. That’s something no one should have to go through.”
Allen was sentenced to two years and nine months’ jail after pleading guilty to dangerous driving causing death.
Ms Bayliss said the trauma was especially difficult knowing the crash was preventable.
“Stephen was my soulmate … we were extremely close and both very happy and he was playing an active role in all aspects of my children’s lives,” she said.
“But all of that was taken away in the cruellest possible way because someone who was a ticking time bomb and who never should have driven got behind the wheel that night.”
Road injuries senior associate Kieta Van der Meulen, from Maurice Blackburn Lawyers, said too many lives were being lost or destroyed due to road trauma due to common factors such as speed, alcohol, fatigue, inattention and failure to wear a seatbelt.
“Already this year we’ve lost almost 90 people in Victoria to road trauma, many of whom died in completely avoidable circumstances,” Ms Van der Meulen said.
“And for every person killed on our roads another 30 people are injured, some who will never fully recover.
“National Road Safety Week acts as a good reminder about what’s at stake every time we get behind the wheel.”