Road Safety

Ms WORTLEY (Torrens) (15:37): As we approach 16 November, World Day of Remembrance for Road Traffic Victims, a United Nations endorsed day to honour those lost and injured on our roads, I want to support the Minister for Health and Wellbeing, who put in the public arena the road safety plea from the Women's and Children's Hospital trauma team. Road accidents are everyone's nightmare, and doctors and nurses at the Women's and Children's Hospital are pleading with South Australians to take extra care on our roads, with new data showing an alarming number of children hospitalised for horrific road injuries.

The hospital paediatric trauma service has treated more than 470 children since 2023 to September this year for injuries suffered on South Australian roads: 293 children were injured in single or multivehicle crashes, 41 children were hit by cars on their bicycles and 91 children were hit by cars as pedestrians. Trauma staff at the hospital say many motor vehicle incidents are preventable, and many serious injuries are caused by inexperience, distractions and peer influence as well as risk-taking behaviour.

I reflect on my own family's experience with road trauma. We pretty much had an idyllic childhood until the day our lives changed forever. We lived opposite horse stables and wide, open paddocks, and the footpath at the time was hard dirt on a good day and mud on others. My dad and younger brother and sister crossed the road near our home to go to the paddock to pick grass for our pet rabbits: Snowy, Mopsy, Blackie and Cottontail. Returning with the grass, through driver inattention, a car veered onto the footpath, hitting my little sister Michelle. She was four years old.

For many months, our parents sat vigil by her bedside, where she lay in a coma in the Adelaide Children's Hospital. Together with my brother and older sister, I spent night after night and weekend after weekend in the hospital's waiting rooms, reading, colouring, playing games and, on a clear Saturday, trying to watch our beloved football team, the mighty Double Blues, play at Adelaide Oval using my dad's binoculars.

Michelle was eventually moved to Estcourt House, where she was to spend the next five years. There she remained in a state of semiconsciousness, not able to speak or move and being fed intravenously, while recognition through a smile or tears brought us some joy and hope. For those years, we travelled the 20 kilometres up to five times a week, bringing her home only for special occasions as she needed special care. At the end of my year 7, Michelle died as a result of her injuries.

So at a young age I learned how events over which you have no control can up-end your life. Road trauma injuries and death mean life will never be the same. All the 'if onlys' will not change it. Every Christmas, Easter, birthday, wedding, birth—every family gathering means there is one less chair, one less voice, one less family member to hug.

Young children are particularly vulnerable to car injuries, often involved in incidents with moving vehicles in low-speed areas such as driveways, yards and car parks. An alarming statistic: sadly, one child is run over in a driveway every week in Australia. That is why South Australians are being urged to stay alert both behind the wheel and on foot, with vehicle injuries remaining a leading cause of child trauma admissions. Recent trauma data also shows a high rate of incidents occurring in young people aged 15 to 24, with crashes significantly increasing as young drivers transition from a learner's permit to a provisional licence.

I recognise that road trauma impacts more than the victim, their family and loved ones, so today I want to acknowledge its impact on all who assist in the care of road accident victims at the site of the accident, on the journey to the hospital and in our emergency departments, wards and rehabilitation facilities. I also take this opportunity to congratulate and thank the dedicated medical professionals at our Women's and Children's Hospital, which recently became the second paediatric hospital in the country to achieve formal Level 1 Trauma Verification from the Royal Australasian College of Surgeons. This accreditation acknowledges the high level of care the hospital is providing to trauma patients, as well as excellence in research and education.

In closing, I acknowledge and thank the dedication of the Road Trauma Support Team of South Australia in supporting grieving families and facilitating community remembrance, including through its annual memorial service where loved ones are honoured with photographs, reflection and solidarity. This year, it will be held at St Helens Park, 39 Prospect Road, Prospect from 10.30am for an 11am start on Sunday 16 November.