a day ago
Retired WA police officer says he will never forget aftermath of fatal crashes
Memories of twisted metal, the crunch of glass beneath heavy boots and an eerie stillness settling over a dark, country road still play regularly in the mind of retired police officer Graham Chitty after four decades.
A car had rolled and killed an 18-year-old passenger, and it was up to the then-senior constable to break the news to her family.
"The lights were off as I approached her parents' farm," he said.
"As I got closer, the lights came on and all the family raced out — they were yelling 'happy birthday' and 'surprise'.
The 77-year-old, who spent most of his working life on the traffic beat in regional Western Australia, said this was one of the hardest parts of the job.
He said people's reactions ranged from shock to anger, and that some physically lashed out in despair.
"You had to show compassion, but you had to switch off and say, 'Well, this is part of the job and we have to do it,'" Mr Chitty said.
"Some just broke down, cried and even fainted.
"When I went home, I would sit on the bed with my wife to debrief. And then the next day, you're up and away again."
Some of Mr Chitty's worst memories of fatal car crashes have resurfaced as WA goes through one of its worst years on record for road deaths.
In 2025 so far, 120 people have died on the state's roads.
About half of the incidents happened in regional areas.
Mr Chitty's advice to motorists was to know their vehicle and always drive to the conditions.
"All I can say is, just learn to drive correctly and remember you're driving a lethal weapon that kills," he said.
In 1997, Mr Chitty launched a road safety program in Bridgetown.
The Mystery Tour of Life took high school students through every step of the aftermath of a fatal car crash.
Mr Chitty said he wanted to reiterate to young drivers the realities of what could happen behind the wheel.
He said some teenagers fainted.
"We copped a bit of flak when we first started because people thought we were being too hard on the kids," Mr Chitty said.
"But I said, 'I'm not backing off, this is life.'
"And in 13 years, there were still fatalities out of Bridgetown, but none of them were the kids involved with the Mystery Tour of Life, and I was quite happy with that."
The program has run for the past two decades in conjunction with St John WA, WA Police and Bridgetown Volunteer Fire and Rescue.
Since retiring from the police force, Mr Chitty has spent the past 15 years as a bus driver, taking students to school in the country town of Manjimup.
Some of the students on the bus are children of people Mr Chitty used to assess for a driver's licence — a task that used to be within a regional police officer's remit.
"Sometimes they get on the bus and say, 'Oh, it's you Chitty', and I go, 'Yep,'" Mr Chitty laughed.
"I was always quite hard on them because I was the one who used to go to the prangs.
