On Tuesday 19th September Year 11 and 12 students met John Maher, a Ballarat father who for the last 20 years has been travelling around the country sharing his family’s tragic story of loss involving motor vehicles, to ‘drive home’ the message of dangerous driving.
Each time we get behind the wheel of a car we are facing risks. The risks are particularly elevated among teenage drivers due to inexperience, fatigue, distraction, excess speed, and drink driving. All of these risks can lead to life threatening and deadly motor vehicle accidents.
His one hour seminar moved many of us to tears as we heard the tragic story of the loss of his 18 year old daughter, Carmen, who died at the wheel of her car only 5km’s from their home. Carmen fell asleep at the wheel. “We can’t give her a cuddle. We can’t tell her we love her,” said John as he reminded our students that they are the most important people in the lives of the people around them. He expressed that a car crash is a life changer for everyone and a parents loss of their child is almost impossible to live with. His message was clear, “Make good decisions as road users and be aware of the dangers of fatigue”.
For more information about John Maher and his presentation, follow this link: https://motivationalspeakeraus.com.au/home
