Holly Scott had just turned 22 when she wrapped her car around a tree in the Adelaide Hills after swerving to avoid a kangaroo during 2017.
She had driven the road to her boyfriend's house many times and was lucky to survive the crash after he found her just a street away.
"I took the full impact on my side of the car door," Ms Scott said.
"Major Crash [police] were called to the scene because no one thought I would survive.
"From there I went into a coma for over two weeks and the recovery has been ongoing ever since … I've got so many broken bones and a head injury as well."
After a month in the brain injury ward at Hampstead Rehabilitation Centre, Ms Scott learned to walk again and has been using her new found strength to mentor other crash survivors.
"I was the youngest person there. I couldn't even get up out of bed, shower or do anything at first," she said.
"My life completely changed forever, but I still needed hope."
Road deaths 'preventable'
SA Police have described the horror start to 2023 — with 32 lives lost compared to 15 at the same time last year — as "absolutely preventable".
The most recent was a 74-year-old man from Kadina who died after two utes collided at Alford on the Yorke Peninsula Tuesday morning.
A 53-year-old man and a 94-year-old man, both from the Riverland, died on a country road on Monday when the vehicle they were travelling in collided with a truck.
Murray Valley Superintendent Scott Denny said many of this year's accidents involved local people on local roads.
"As much as our thoughts certainly go out to the family and friends of the two gentleman who lost their lives yesterday, it goes to show, it's country people on country roads again," he said on Tuesday.
"Whilst I won't go into the specifics … a lot of the incidents appear to be preventable."
Survival chances 'slim' in regions
In the years since her accident, Ms Scott has presented to thousands of school students, recorded a documentary sharing her story, and continued to advocate for road safety.
She has called on regional communities to take extra care on country roads.
"The chance of survival in a regional area is very slim compared to metro [areas], with things like wildlife and high speed limits," Ms Scott said.
"[Regional people] feel comfortable on those roads and they take unnecessary risk, like not wearing a seatbelt, distractions, drug and drunk driving, and dangerous road use.
"People just think they're invincible on the roads and it can't happen to them, but it can happen to you and it can change your life so quickly."
Superintendent Denny said there were many reasons why regional roads continued to be a site of accidents and urged everybody to take care ahead of the long weekend.
