Cobram and surrounding districts emergency services members united on Friday, May 19 to plead with motorists to take care on local roads.
Joining forces at the site of a recent catastrophic Strathmerton crash, personnel from Cobram police and SES along with Yarroweyah Fire Brigade and Ambulance Victoria voiced their desire for road users to drive safely and their hope to not have to attend more road tragedies.
Twenty-one people have died on the region’s roads since New Year’s Eve.
Cobram SES deputy controller Luke Herezo said his unit had attended seven road crash rescues in six weeks, with six people killed.
“Normally we average five or six a year,” Mr Herezo said.
“It’s the most we’ve had to do in a month.
Mr Herezo said he was frustrated with the number of crashes that were occurring in the region, and he urged people to drive to road conditions and to ignore their mobile phone.
“Country roads have quirks where you might have a give way sign where you wouldn’t expect it,” he said.
Mr Herezo said while the roads had not changed in many years, crashes were still occurring.
He said an increase in traffic on some roads had led to them becoming notorious in the area for crashes, including Labuan Rd, where five people died in a horrific crash between a car, ute and truck in April.
“The Labuan Rd (intersection with Murray Valley Hwy) is no different to intersections either side of it, but because of the cut-through use by traffic, it has more crashes,” he said.
Mr Herezo said the challenge of being in the SES in a small community such as Cobram was that members often knew the people involved in crashes, or knew someone who did know them.
Ambulance Victoria paramedic Thomas Manallack was also at the event and said drivers should drive defensively.
“Just take things slow and don’t drive when feeling tired or stressed,” Mr Manallack said.
Senior Sergeant Nathan Ractliffe of Cobram police told the Courier that people needed to remember that signage and road rules were there for a reason and to abide by them.
“People need to understand the rural roads, the signage and all the warnings that are provided to drivers on those roads,” he said.
Sen Sgt Ractliffe warned that those who skirt the road rules will be caught if they continue behaving recklessly on the roads.
“If drivers are going to not abide by the road rules, then they'll certainly be spoken to by police at some point in time,” he said.
Sen Sgt Ractliffe also stressed that road users who were familiar with local roads shouldn’t become complacent and called on visitors to be extra vigilant on roads they aren’t accustomed to.
An often unspoken issue of responding to tragedy is the effect it has on the emergency service personnel.
Sen Sgt Ractliffe said that though Cobram police officers are well supported, it is natural that attending so many tragedies would inevitably have an effect.
“It’s never easy going to these traumatic events. Our people are well trained, they're well supported, however long-term exposure over many days or weeks does tend to take its toll,” Sen Sgt Ractliffe said.