A horror week on Victorian roads has taken Clare Lawson back to the moment she saw her 24-year-old brother in the morgue after a single-vehicle crash in 2003.
"There's nothing more sobering than seeing somebody you know and love dearly in the morgue under a white sheet," she said.
"The enduring memory I have of him is that one, because that's the last time I saw him."
Even though two decades have passed, it is still emotional for Ms Lawson and her family.
Ten people have died on Victorian roads in the past week, bringing the provisional road toll to 134 lives — up from 96 at the same time last year.
On Tuesday a woman died in hospital following a three-car collision in Tyabb on May 19.
Ms Lawson hopes an understanding of road trauma can change people's behaviour on the roads, pointing out her brother's death changed how she drives.
"I think a lot of these drivers don't … really realise the power of what's under their hands and under their foot pedal," Ms Lawson said.
"[I would like] to get serial offenders in groups to go and look at a body or to go through and actually see what a broken human looks like."
'Dumb decisions' adding to toll
Victorian Road Policing Assistant Commissioner Glenn Weir said multi-fatality collisions had dramatically increased since the first five months of 2022, when there was one double fatality in the state.
"This year we've had eight double fatalities," he told ABC Radio Melbourne Mornings.
"We've had two quadruple fatalities and, of course, that terrible quintuple fatality up at Strathmerton."
Mr Weir said people not driving to road conditions had been a contributing factor in many fatal collisions.
"The disproportionate level of trauma [this year] as opposed to last year is predominantly because people are taking really high-level risk and making some really dumb decisions," he said.
"We know we have to do something to change behaviour, otherwise we're going to continue to see levels of trauma like this."
Personal loss can change attitudes
Amber Community is a not-for profit organisation that provides driver education and free counselling to anyone impacted by road trauma in Victoria.
Every year more than 1,000 Victorians who have been caught driving dangerously participate in Amber Community's road trauma awareness seminars.
Many participants are referred from the Magistrates Court or community correction services to try to prevent them from causing a crash that leads to life-threatening or fatal injuries.
Amber Community chief executive Bernadette Nugent says getting drivers to meet people with lived experience of road trauma can change attitudes and behaviour.
"A lot of young people say to us, 'I don't want that to be my mum standing up their telling my story about how I lost my life, or how I killed somebody'," she said.
"I think people don't realise the huge long-term effect [road trauma has] on people. It can last a lifetime."
Receiving life-changing injuries
Sally Alsop knows all too well that it is not just road fatalities that change people's lives, but also serious injuries.
At the age of 20 she suffered a broken spine, ankle and pelvis after losing control of a vehicle in regional Victoria during 1965.
"I was so inexperienced," she said.
"I came to a steep curve and the car drifted into the gravel and skidded and I didn't know how to get out of the skid."
Ms Alsop said she put her foot on the brake and was flung from the vehicle, which was not fitted with seatbelts.
Wearing a seatbelt become mandatory in Victoria in 1970.
Ms Aslop said the accident was "absolutely life changing". She spent months in hospital and was never able to walk normally again.
"It's not just dying or not dying, there are many people who are maimed," she said.
"It's very difficult when you can't walk, and there are so many people like that due to one moment of stupidity or inattention."
Driving behaviour 'definitely worse'
Working as a sales representative for 15 years, Wendy Cook spends a lot of time on Victorian roads.
She believes drivers have become more aggressive.
"The driving is definitely worse," Ms Cook said.
"Some days I can't leave the house because the stress of driving on our roads is too much."
Her mother-in-law died five years ago when she was hit by a car as a pedestrian.
"She went for her daily walk and never came back … it's so devastating," Ms Cook said.
"She was a beloved mother [and] her husband has never got over it."
Ms Cook believed many collisions could be avoided if drivers slowed down, used their indicators, and avoided distractions like mobile phones.
"There are people who think they can make up their own rules and get in their cars and put other people's lives at risk," she said.
"It makes me so angry."
If you have been impacted by a road collision you can contact Amber Community for free telehealth or in-person counselling.
