The father of a teen who died and killed four people in a car crash has delivered a desperate plea, saying young drivers need to stop treating the roads for their own “entertainment”.
Peter McGuinness, along with wife Melissa, have made changing the attitudes of young drivers their lifelong mission after their son Jordan’s death.
The 18-year-old had alcohol and drugs in his system and was speeding when he slammed into the back of a stationary vehicle in an emergency lane on the Pacific Motorway at Coomera in 2012.
All the sad memories of that fateful day and subsequent years returned on Tuesday night when Mr McGuinness heard of the deaths of Kate Leadbetter, 31, and Matty Field, 37, at an intersection at Alexandra Hills.
While the case against the 17-year-old alleged driver is still ongoing and no wrongdoing has been proven, Mr McGuinness said, sadly, the fallout and pain for the families and friends of Ms Leadbetter and Mr Field would live with them well beyond the last wreath laid or candles burned at any roadside vigil or mass.
“My heart goes straight out to the victims,” he said.
“We know they are now on a lifelong journey they never sought and don’t deserve.
“For all of the outpouring of love, sympathy and empathy that is happening around the community, when all of that abates, and life moves on, they will be left with this devastation permanently.
“There is no escaping it. It lives with Jordan’s victims every day.”
Following Jordan’s death, Peter and Melissa founded YOU CHOOSE, a youth road safety program that now runs in Queensland, NSW and Victoria.
Their aim is to change cultural issues and show young drivers the devastation left behind when a poor decision is made on the roads.
“We can rationalise that we are not responsible for what our son did, but deep down there is this gut truth that he passed half of his culpability to his loved ones,” Mr McGuinness said.
“That is something we have to live with and is part of the reason we started YouChoose because what is the purpose of the weight we are carrying?”
Mr McGuinness said too often road deaths were rationalised as accidents.
And too often, a young person who may have caused an accident is absolved of responsibility by their adult peers.
“There is a whole generation of adults that tell them ‘we’ve all done it and there but for the grace of God, go I’,” he said.
“It’s telling young drivers they are not accountable for the choices they make when they drive.”
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