CONDOLENSCES & HEART FELT SYMPATHY

[Bosunsmate]

To anyone who has been touched by the week-end road tragedy which claimed the 4 young lives here in Townsville. Our daughter is amongst the many school kids who are struglling to come to grips with this tragic loss of life whilst still coping with their QCS exams.


OUR SINCERE AND HEARTFELT CONDOLENCES GO OUT TO YOU ALL.


This includes the emergency personel who performed the heart wrenching job of bdy and victim recovery and ID.

[Dug]

I was away on the weekend I did not hear about it.

Sorry to hear about it. Give your daughter a big hug from us and give her the time and space to talk about it and about her friends.

It takes time, and it will hit in unusual and unexpected ways.

Getting over it is like a scar healing when it is new every time you bump it it hurts slowly it becomes less tender untill it is just a memory, but you will still have a scar and that will remain for the rest of your life.

[Danthefireman]

The number of times i have driven my car home to palleranda and seen car head lights approaching from behind at rediculous speeds i am surprised it has not happened more. imagine coming home from work at midnight on your motor bike and an uncontrollable car full of kids floats by you. i have cut people out of cars and all these idiots should be walking

[Danthefireman]

oh i almost forgot to the heart surgeon with the black porsche i got your number

[Bosunsmate]

Many thanks for your kind words,

I fish quite regularly out at three mile where it happened and should have been there the time it happened, the kids asked to have a "Family Night so I stayed home (thank god).

Unfortunately I am all too aware of the scars, I discovered a army mate with a bullet entry wound and his scull etc all over his lounge room ceiling a few years back and its left its mark on me, I now suffer a depressive disorder with anger and panic attacks (great fun), thankfully I have a great psych.

Needless to say after 15 years service I am now medically retired.......More time to fish.

The most unfortunate part of this for the kids is that Kirwan State High has just shoved its head in the sand, on Monday quite a few of the year 12 kids wrote poems and stuck them up around the school, the teachers took them down on Monday night, the kids have had No Grief Counsellers, No Critical Incident Debrief/Councelling & when I confronted John Livingstone the principal he told me that the kids were'nt current students at the school so I should just settle my kids and myself down and get over it......at least Northern Beaches High had a professional Grief Counsellor on hand all day Monday & offered prayers.

I just could'nt imagine loosing any of my kids this way, this is my incentive to place this post I suppose.

[theoldlegend]

Yeah, tragic situation all round, not just for the families who lost a son or daughter, but also for the police, ambos, firies and everybody else who attended the scene, plus the doctors, nurses and other staff at the hospital.

The kids' friends also, who lost a mate are also suffering badly. It won't get any better when the families and friends put their loved ones to rest.

The frustrating thing about accidents like this is "Why?"

Was it loss of control, inexperience, a rush of blood to the head or what? I guess we'll never know, except that speed looks like it was a factor.

The tragic thing is that they aren't coming back. My heartfelt feelings go out to those who are left to rebuild their lives.

TOL

[Dug]

Why? because young people need to take risks they need to prove their manhood and place in society the need a rite of passage to adulthood.

We no longer send our young out to kill a lion or prove their manhood or womanhood.

I know I took a LOT of risks when I was young I look back in horror at the stupid things I did now.

We cannot keep our kids safe we just have to provide them with the love, information and challenges to spare them from the worst possibilities if we can. We also have to realize that not all of them are going to make it.

It is called "life".

[cooky]

Why? because young people need to take risks they need to prove their manhood and place in society the need a rite of passage to adulthood.

We no longer send our young out to kill a lion or prove their manhood or womanhood.

I know I took a LOT of risks when I was young I look back in horror at the stupid things I did now.

We cannot keep our kids safe we just have to provide them with the love, information and challenges to spare them from the worst possibilities if we can. We also have to realize that not all of them are going to make it.

It is called "life".


well put Dug. I don't want to turn this into an argument, but I agree. It's tragic, but I've just had kids (babies) and I worry about everything they do, and it often makes me think how I survived to this age - from the age of 5 to 15 - bloody hell climbing trees, swimming in floods, playing with fire, horseriding - wild, motorbike riding, skateboarding, etc etc. I had some friends have an accident (at a similar age) and one of my good friends died and another very badly injured. It made us think for a bit, but them's the risks. At least we knew we weren't bullet proof anymore. This will effect many people and I dare say it - maybe lives will be saved as a result.

[Poseidon]

Doesn't matter where you live these days, there are any number of teenagers flying around in cars at all times of the day or night risking life and limb, living the mixed up dream that is thrust down their throats by the modern media.
You can hear them roaring around the Brisbane Suburbs in the wee small hours, brakes screeching, wheels spinning, yet no sound from a whailing police car to pull them over. You can talk to these kids until you are blue in the face, they won't listen and will continue to get into cars with young men mainly who have no experience nor concept of what high speed crashes result in. We need more marked and unmarked police cars on the roads 24 hours a day, there is no better deterent than this to curb speed.
My deepest sympathies go out to the families of these children and those many in the community who have been affected by this tragedy.

Regards Cameron.

[Fishin_Dan]

Bosunsmate - My deepest condolences to all involved!

Not sure if it would help, but as the school is not providing any help/relief for the kids involved, let them know that Lifeline is always there. It's just a person on a phone, but anyone is better than no-one! And that's what they're there for!!!

It's hard to lose a close one...

[snappa]

only one car involved.. and not another FAMILY....

[theoldlegend]

We have a close friend whose son was in a roll over incident down our way some time ago where a teenage girl was killed and another badly injured. It turns out the boys were in the front of a Hilux or similar and the girls were in the tray body when the young driver rolled it.

Anyway, it went to court and the driver was jailed as alcohol was involved. I think he was 17 at the time of the accident. Our friend's son has been very moved by what happened.

Another factor to come out of all this apart from the tragedy of it all, is that the dead girl's parents will never believe the driver got a big enough sentence, while the boy's (driver) parents reckon he was harshly dealt with. A lot of people will be saying for the rest of their lives "if only".

When I was about that age, some of the things we did in cars would make your hair stand on end, and I think that we had this view that we were bullet proof. Times probably haven't changed.

TOL

[cooky]

We need more marked and unmarked police cars on the roads 24 hours a day, there is no better deterent than this to curb speed.


again, without turning this into a debate, I think this is important, but the kids know where the police go. There are too many streets, motorways, etc for this to be viable. It's really about society, education, parents, etc....
although access to finance has improved dramitically over the years so kids can drive loud turbo sports cars - the fact is that many kids were driving less safe powerful 6 and 8 cylinder cars when I was younger. Worse handling, braking, and similar power driving 2 wheels.

[Dug]

Reading my family history back in the 1890's my family lost 2 sons while they were horse racing on their way home.

Most of my family's males have gone off to war luckily all but on survived.

Untill you are 25 you believe you are immortal and will never die.

After that you slowly realize you may be mortal.

[saphire]

Bosunmate,
My prayers are with all of you who have been affected by this road tragedy.
I never know what to say when I hear about such a loss.
Please know that you have my deepest sympathy.
saphire.

[troy]

Bosunmate what i am about to tell you is a scary situation i was involved a few months ago going to the area concerned.
i was stooped a the lights to turn right to go to pallendra and i heard this persos blowing the horn at me trying to force me to go through a red light to which i gave him my responce through the rear vision lights.
as we turned and was going on our wat this idiot came along side me punching the steering wheel of his car and as soon as he passed me he cut in front and went off the side of the road and then gunned it and showered my car with gravel.
some nuts out there mate you have my smypathy.
troy

[theoldlegend]

There are some very angry people out there driving cars and I don't know what makes them like that. Maybe some people just can't control it, possibly due to work or home or other social pressures.

Only this morning, wife & I were shopping and there was a bloke reversing out of a space at the shopping centre (and shopping centres aren't generous with their spaces) and another bloke drove up behind him and started blowing his horn at this bloke trying to reverse out. Why? It wasn't as if there were no spaces left, there were plenty. He must have felt that he was being held up.

Just don't know.

TOL

[Bosunsmate]

The stupidity of it all is that the young ones don't appear to have learnt anything.

I took my daughter to work the other day and a young guy ina blue VK was screeming down the main road swerving between traffic in a hurry to his own funeral..

The ONLY way to really stop this is to speed limit vehicles and we know thats not cost effective.....as the local RACQ guy said on the news the other night, the kids arent being taught to drive anymore, they are being taught to pass a driving test.

We need to re-educate the system, start teaching them to CONTROL the vehicle first, I remember my first lesson was about the principal of the engine and how the car moves, then was I taught how to stop and then go......makes sense, whats the first thing you learn when learning to snow ski.......how to plough and stop !

I have had my beef, it's time to let it go, no matter how much bitchin and how many letters we write the government is'nt going to listen, they'll just introduce more laws and reduce the police numbers and expect the death rate to drop....

RIP to all those who have passed and simpathy and condolences to all who are suffering as a result........

Bosun

[Danthefireman]

the kids are being taught to drive by driving schools, what they need is to learn what PUNISHMENT is and have all these do gooders put back in their box. as a rape victim friend of mine was told you have your day in court, this guy has to live with it for the rest of his life. bugger anti hoon laws just use jail

[gawby]

Bosunsmate,
Life is tough and sometimes very short.
As i have posted before i am an x qld copper and proud of it.
Many times when i was in the job death stared at me in the face from a different range of incidents.
I never spoke to anyone about what i saw and kept it bottled up inside and it drove me to the drink.
After about 3 drunken incidents i found that i had to sort my life out and move on.
As a result i gave up the drink in 1989 and left the coppers.
What i am saying to you is if your children and for that matter anyone else who has been touched by this incident talk to them or get them some councelling to make things better. Dont let them bottle it up inside because one day you have to in some way let it out. The way i did this was not very pretty.
May i offer my sympathy to the families involved and i hope your daughter comes to gripps with this and gets over it easily.
Kindest regards to all in this matter
Graeme

[maztez]

Gawby Im with you on this one .In times of trials and tribulations the need to share the burden is so important as you well know.The best form of releif is to share .
maztez terry

[Bosunsmate]

We are fortunate in that the daughter is good friends with the step-brother of one of the dead boys so they are talking constantly, especialy about the good times that were had by all....they are celelbrating their lives now instead of mourning their loss which is a good start.

Daughter and Mum have done the funerals and said their goodbyes at the grave so they are on the road to moving on, daughter also knows support is available when and where ever it is required no matter what.

Daughter knows and understands that time will heal the wounds but celebration of their lives will ease the day to day pain.

PS....gawby there is a PM on its way.

[gawby]

Bosunsmate,
As replied in pm its a pleasure and good times ahead.
Try and catch up for a fish if i get held in townsville one weekend.
Regards
Graeme

[Burley_Boy]

I tip my hat to you guys.
When we realize our own mortality and that of those around us and how precious life is then we do adjust how we live. Some will get to this point others will sadly die before they do. It is nothing we can instigate via laws and I can only protect my own children to a certain extent and hope that they will outlive me.
We don't know how long we have our friends and our loved ones, lets live accordingly.
cheers BB