Bridgetown’s Mystery Tour of Life

Today, I was a guest speaker again at Bridgetown’s annual Mystery Tour of Life. A ‘real life‘ simulated initiative created by the Bridgetown Roadwise Committee.

A day designed to educate young students, learning to drive about road safety and the consequences and reality of road trauma.

Senior Constable Mike Smith (Vice Chairman of the Roadwise Committee) and Senior Constable Ben Ducker begin the day by taking the year 10 students through a presentation of videos, talks and facts on road safety and the penalties and consequences of mobile phone distraction, speeding, driving when fatigued, drink and drug driving, not wearing a seatbelt and not stopping for emergency vehicles.

The students are then taken to a staged crash scene, narrated by St John Ambulance Volunteer Chris Mott. A young girl, conscious and injured is trapped inside her car, her friend is lying dead on the road and the driver of the other vehicle, drunk, is unharmed.

The head on collision they are confronted with is a result of drink driving and mobile phone distraction.

As the scene unfolds, Police Officers, St John Ambulance, FESA, and Archer and Sons demonstrate what they do at a real-life crash scene. The students watch as the driver of the other car is arrested for drink driving, the girl is cut free from her car and the deceased girl is taken away.

The screams from the injured driver and the screeching sirens are harrowing. It’s confronting and overwhelming.

The journey follows the injured casualty to the Emergency Department where medical staff and medical students demonstrate the emergency procedures they undertake to try and stabilise her to give her the best chance of survival. Despite every effort some people cannot be saved.

Students are then taken to the viewing room in the hospital. SC Mike Smith explains that this is where their family would come to see them if they became a fatality and spoke of their role of having to notify families. Then, escorted into the morgue, SC Mike Smith explains the procedures they as police officers undertake when someone has been killed.

The students are then confronted with Archer and Sons hearse and a coffin placed in the back, along with the car they use to transport the deceased. A Funeral Director then explains to the students what will happen to their body, how and why an autopsy is done and then talks about organising a funeral.

The students then listened to Hugh Wheatley who spoke of his own car crash when he was younger and his daughter’s car crash she is so lucky to have survived.

I then shared my story of road trauma and the horrific night Jack was killed.

The phone call from Jack’s girlfriend Evie.

Scott seeing Jack at the crash scene and watching as he was put into the back of an ambulance in a body bag, not knowing it was him.

Seeing Jack in the morgue, organising his funeral, and how hard our life is living without him.

I explained to them that life doesn’t return to normal after the funeral. We also had to deal with the process of court, sentencing, prison and parole. Our nightmare doesn’t end. We have been given the life sentence.

They then watched a video of my beautiful boy who was so full of life up to the moment his life was taken from him.

There are no words to reflect how these kids were feeling at this point. I could see them crying as I spoke. I could see their emotions and it hurt to watch, but everything they had been exposed to all day they were now hearing firsthand from a Mum whose world has been torn apart from the deliberate actions of a dangerous and reckless driver.

I cannot commend this initiative enough.

It’s always hard for me to watch. I picture my beautiful Jack in every scenario, and it takes me so many days to process and deal with the emotions of such a confronting day, but this is the reality of road trauma.

It’s emotional, overwhelming, and confronting but his initiative has potentially saved 60 young lives and families from living the nightmare that has been forced upon us.

Thank you to SC Mike Smith for inviting me to be a guest speaker again, and thank you to everyone involved in making the day the success it is – SC Ben Ducker, Sergeant Dave White, SC Laura Nation, Chris Mott, St John Ambulance, FESA, the teachers from Bridgetown and Boyup Brook, CWA ladies for morning tea, Tony Pratico for lunch, Bridgetown Hospital – Michelle Hanrahan and the medical students, actors from the scenario and Hugh Wheatley.