Tom McLuckie is angry, grieving, frustrated and desperately wants to bring about change.
Not just on one front, but on many.
Just over seven weeks ago, his 20-year-old son, Matthew, was killed by a person driving on the wrong side of Hindmarsh Drive, in a stolen car which collided head-on at high speed with Matthew's vehicle.
His son was completely blameless in the collision; he was simply driving home from work and then confronted with the worst possible scenario for not just a young driver, but any driver. And died in the massive head-on impact.
Compounding the family's grief and frustration is that a crowdfunding page was raised by the partner of the other driver involved.
The statement which accompanies the fund-raising appeal describes the woman - who is the badly injured offender under investigation in this matter, as is another driver who was also on the wrong side of the road but fled the scene without rendering assistance - as being "ran off the road" in the incident.
"I'm appalled and saddened that someone can distort the facts in this way to raise money," Mr McLuckie said.
"If this has happened to us, then how many other grieving families are being used like this?
"We have tried to contact them [GoFundMe] multiple times to get this [fundraising appeal] taken down but of course, there's no-one to call and no-one to check on these things so we feel quite powerless to stop it."
GoFundMe, a multi-million dollar online crowd-funding business based out of Sacramento, California, responded by saying the "fundraiser in question is currently being assessed as part of the standard Trust and Safety verification process".
The build-up of grief-fed frustration from his innocent son's death, together with a number of Canberra crashes and incidents which can be attributed to other acts of reckless and alcohol or drug-affected driving, has spilled over into anger.
Mr McLuckie says he and other families whose children have been killed by reckless Canberra drivers, have had enough.
Among those with whom he has spoken and shared his feelings on this issue, is Garry Seary, the father of Lachlan Seary, the 19-year-old designated driver who was killed when his car was struck at high speed last year in Hume by a drug- and alcohol-affected driver.
The culpable driver in that fatal incident, 29-year-old Peter Loeschnauer, was sentenced in February to a jail term of five years, with a non-parole period of two years and 11 months.
Launched this week, Mr McLuckie's online campaign "ACTnowforsaferroads" has steadily built to almost 6000 followers, attracting a community-wide wave of sympathy and support for his stand on such matters as:
- Sufficient funding for police in the ACT;
- Greater resourcing and funding for victim support agencies;
- "Contemporary" legislation, including the electronic geo-tagging of known offenders;
- Mandatory minimum sentencing with no parole for serious motor vehicle crimes; and
- Immediate loss of licence and impounding of vehicles for high range speeding and other reckless driving offences.
"I have sought an urgent meeting with the Chief Minister and the Attorney General on these and other matters," Mr McLuckie said.
"Clearly Canberra is way out of step with NSW and elsewhere in how it deals with these repeat driving offenders, these people steal any car they can get their hands, who drive at ridiculous speeds on public roads, are affected by drugs and alcohol, and they just don't care; they are even prepared to run down police officers.
"The courts are just a revolving door for these people. They [the offenders] put on their suit and tie, roll up to court, work up a few tears, tell the magistrate how sorry they are, and walk away.
"I don't blame police; it's not their fault. I think they share my frustration. They don't even have enough people to do the work they have. We have the lowest number of police per head of population in the country.
"It's the legislation that needs changing; the laws have to get tougher. And we need to do things which really make a difference. Let's have a "three strikes" system, and let's put an electronic tag on serious driving offenders.
"The system we have in place here in Canberra doesn't work. Matthew [his son] died because of the reckless stupidity of others. I want these laws changed, and judging from the huge response we have had [from the campaign], so do many, many other people in Canberra."
Last year the Australian Federal Police Association urged new police powers in the ACT enabling officers to seize vehicles and issue immediate licence suspension notices - as they do in NSW, and as is mandatory in Victoria - for drivers exceeding the speed limit by 45km/h or more.
At the time, the association said how officers were apprehending motorists for severe breaches of the road rules, and then watching "the driver commit the same offence again further up the road".
An ACT government spokesperson said that it "is already conducting a review of road transport offences and will implement changes based on evidence that improves safety for all road users".
