Fighting road trauma

By Emma Sun
Mr Callanan, who has been a paramedic for 15 years, established Roadwhyz Victoria last month in a bid to educate youths on the consequences of dangerous driving.
He says little attention is given to those who are not involved in accidents but are just as affected.
“I’ve seen a lot of trauma in my time and the one thing that gets to me is the ripple effect of the people that are left behind because of the trauma,” he said.
“It’s not always the patients themselves that affect me – it’s caring for the people who have been left behind.”
Mr Callanan said the worst accident he attended was a crash in Clayton where a two door car, with two occupants inside, hit a pole.
“That’s the story I talk about in my course because of the consequences that came out from that accident,” he said.
“We found there was alcohol involved, as well as speeding, in-car distractions and inexperience – it was a learner driver who crashed the car.
“Nobody died, but the driver is now a paraplegic and others were disabled from the crash.
“The ongoing support for that young girl now is a huge emotional cost to the family because they have to look after her.
“She has no independence any more – she needs help to do any daily activities, to get to places and even to do the basics, like going to the toilet.
“That’s what I really stress about the course.”
Roadwhyz is an initiative aimed at generating awareness for 16 to 25-year-olds and many schools have already jumped on board for the courses.
“They see it as quite a vital educational course for their young kids, as we give them a no-frills, emotional and educational course on the realities of road trauma,” he said.
“We show them quite powerful images of real-life trauma and we also give them the education behind why that happens and how to avoid that in the future.
“We in Roadwhyz don’t make any apologies for the images we show – we really consider what we’re going to show children and certainly give warning to both parents and kids but no-one’s left the classroom yet.
“Kids need to see this and I think it’ll have a positive effect. They might be upset initially, but they’ll certainly keep it in the back of their minds.”
For more information about the Roadwhyz program, visit www.roadwhyzvic.com.au or call Jason Callanan on 0416 284 615.