Latest news with #roadTrauma
News.com.au
03-07-2025
- News.com.au
Badly injured NSW cop Jonathan Wright's drive for the job not lost
A NSW highway patrol cop who had his right leg crushed when a texting driver ploughed into him at a stationary RBT site now spends his days teaching kids about the catastrophic consequences of dangerous driving. Senior Constable Jonathan Wright said the long road to recovery since the crash in Campbelltown in Sydney's south west wasn't easy, and took its toll on his wife and family. But getting back to being a cop was always on the agenda. 'There was no choice for me to come back to the cops, it was very important, a no-brainer really,' Senior Constable Wright told 'I'm now working in the south west region for education, going to schools in the area and talking about road trauma and road safety, with a big focus on distraction. 'It's a very important message – if we get through to at least one kid it's a win. I talk to upwards of 5000 kids a year in our area, so surely we can reach more than one.' Senior Constable Wright was bleeding out on the road with a stranger's belt tied around his crushed right leg after he was hit at the breath testing station on Campbelltown Rd at Leumeah on February 16, 2018. Sergeant Ben Cook rushed to his aid and applied a tourniquet he had in his pocket. 'There was already a makeshift one, a belt on his leg but it continued bleeding. I just needed to get that bleeding stopped,' Sergeant Cook said. 'I just happened to have one in my pocket that night, and that was very lucky. Other police were comforting him while I concentrated on my job and that was to stop the bleeding.' Sergeant Cook said it was 'absolutely incredible' that Senior Constable Wright had made it back to work. 'His resilience is beyond belief. To still be a police officer I take my hat off to him.' Inspector Greg Donaldson said despite losing his leg, Senior Constable Wright returned to work within three months of the crash and was an absolutely vital member of the team working every day to teach young drivers the dangers of distracted driving. Jakob Thornton, 25, was jailed in 2019 for at least two years after he pleaded guilty to two counts of dangerous driving causing grievous bodily harm in relation to the crash. He had been staring at his phone for about 20 seconds, travelling at 60km per hour, before he rounded a bend and slammed into Snr Constable Wright and his colleague Senior Constable Matthew Foley. Last month the two officers were awarded a Commissioner's Commendation for their actions. Adam Coggan, a motorist who pulled up, told his children to wait in the car and rendered assistance to Senior Constable Wright and Kiera Cusbert, who ran from her car to help and keep the injured officer calm, were both also presented with awards. Senior Constable Wright said he would not have made it without their help. 'I hadn't met Adam and Keira before today. I wasn't aware of the roles they played,' Senior Constable Wright said. 'It has been great to talk to them and thank them for what they did that night. I am grateful they were there to help, and I am grateful to all the first responders. I am also glad their roles were also acknowledged at the awards ceremony.'
Yahoo
13-05-2025
- Yahoo
Every Aussie driver targeted in push to combat $30 billion crisis: 'True epidemic'
One of Australia's leading road safety advocates is calling for urgent action to tackle the root causes of dangerous driving, warning that without a major shift in attitudes, road deaths will continue to rise. National Road Safety Week began on Monday, serving as a powerful reminder of the devastating impact of road trauma, and a call to action for all Australians to help ensure everyone gets home safely. The campaign was founded by Peter Frazer OAM, whose daughter was killed by a distracted truck driver. Speaking to Yahoo News Australia, Peter stressed that this year, a cultural shift is more critical than ever. He said Australia must urgently rethink not just driver behaviour, but also its stance on enforcement, speeding, and accountability on the roads. At the same time, the financial cost of road trauma has soared to $30 billion annually — and that figure is only expected to climb. "The very first thing that we need to do is to flip everything on its head and start dealing with the reality of risk on our roads," he said. "That's the first thing. We've got to have our governments start doing much more active enforcement, both police enforcement and also automated enforcement, which we can do immediately. "Just giving the example of NSW, for 13 years we've been pushing for average speed cameras to be used, not just for heavy vehicles but for all vehicles, for light vehicles. NSW — and we congratulate it — but they're only just doing a trial. If we're trying to change behaviour, these obvious things that should be implemented immediately need to be done. "We need to go back to the concept of 'anywhere, anytime' in terms of compliance and enforcement. We're almost apologetic to the community if we're talking about trying to save people's lives and prevent serious injuries. "We've got to have our governments come on board and say, yeah, this is quite a serious circumstance." Speeding remains one of the most dangerous and widespread behaviours on Australian roads, including in school zones where children are at serious risk. Peter stressed that tackling speed alone could dramatically reduce the road toll, noting it's linked to 40 per cent of all fatalities. A focused, year-long effort to reduce speeding, he said, could save around 550 lives. Common myth about Aussie road deaths exposed Older drivers 'exposed' on Aussie roads after major shift Aussie drivers accused of 'selfish' road act amid widespread trend Peter said that since Covid, there's been a noticeable increase in dangerous and erratic driving across Australia. Over the past four years, the national road toll has risen from around 1,140 to more than 1,300 deaths annually. He described it as a 'true epidemic' — one he believes is preventable, saying 'we've got the vaccines' to stop it. "We need to recognise, back in 2021, the Commonwealth and state governments decided that we were going to have another National Road Safety Strategy," he said. "[That] we were going to reduce the number of people killed by 2030 by 50 per cent, and that would reduce it from those original 2021 numbers down to 570. "And right now, if we were on target in 2024, there would have been no more than 900 people killed on Australia's roads. We're almost at 50 per cent above our own target. "We've got to also recognise — it costs $30 billion in road trauma in Australia every year. Can you imagine the savings to the national economy if we reduced the number of people killed by that 50 per cent? But [we're] headed in the wrong direction — and we have been for the last four years." Do you have a story tip? Email: newsroomau@ You can also follow us on Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, Twitter and YouTube.
