Comrades: Bill Verheyen with Corio SES members Paul Perry, Julie Marr, Jenny Giblin and Peter Lindorff.
JOHN VAN KLAVEREN
EVERY time Bill Verheyen drives past a roadside memorial it brings all the memories back.
The 16-year retired SES veteran and now Road Trauma Support Services volunteer says he does not begrudge the accident monuments to family memories.
“But for us emergency services personnel every monument is a reminder of the scenes we have attended.
“Every time I pass one I remember and the sights, sounds and smells come rushing back.”
Bill said several incidents had locked into his memory.
“I will always recall one collision when a security guard who was first on the scene was comforting a woman driver while her daughters were trapped in the rear.
“He could feel her pulse slipping away and at the same time was trying to reassure her daughters.
“He was holding her hand as she died and I saw him shortly afterwards, standing lost and forlorn by the side of the road.
“I understood what he was going through. I gave him my mobile phone so he could call his family and made sure one of the police drove him home because it affected him so badly.”
Bill says another incident just before Christmas was never far from his mind.
“It was December 16 and I rushed out to a scene in Church St but the policeman who was already there said there was no hurry.
“It was a 16-year-old in a stolen car who had died in a single-vehicle accident.
“We stood there side by side just looking at the wreck. As the policeman turned away he whispered ‘Merry Christmas, mum and dad’.”
Bill said it was difficult to understand why some died and others survived collisions.
“There’s no rhyme or reason to it. Often the innocent suffer and it’s so hard to comprehend.
“I never allowed a tear to fall while I was on the job but now sometimes I do get choked up telling my story.”
Bill’s said his work with RTSS had given him an outlet for some of the sadness and anger at his accident scene experiences.
“The RTSS is wonderful. I’ve seen the penny drop for some of the young people who I’ve had the chance to speak with.
“Sometimes they come up afterwards to thank me – one young man told me I had saved his life with my presentation.
“I’d love to see more road safety education in schools and a defensive driving course as part of getting a licence.”
Bill said driver education certainly wasn’t an issue for his own family.
“My daughters all understand the consequences.
“They’d never dream of speeding or getting in a car with a drunk driver.
“And their husbands and partners know that they have me to account to if they do it.
“We’ve had our own positive ripple effect.”
