Unfortunately, we experienced the first fatal road crash in the Shire for well over two years a couple of weeks ago on Sunday 19 August. Initial assessment of the scene indicates the driver, who was from Esperance, was either fatigued or distracted, drifting off the left side of the road before over correcting and rolling several times. It was a timely reminder to us all that driving long distances without breaks or being distracted by things like phones do take lives on our roads. A family has had a loved one taken from them early because of something which could have easily been avoided.
However, out of tragedies like this, the strength of our community shines bright in the form of our volunteer ambulance and fire officers. It never fails to impress me how ordinary people from our community drop whatever they are doing to perform terrible tasks in such a professional manner. I thank them all for their work in trying circumstances and hopefully it will be a long, long time before we must come together for a job like this again. I urge anyone interested in contributing to our community to seriously consider joining either St John Ambulance or the local Fire Brigade as a volunteer.
Article by A. VanDenberg