The father of 14-year old Bryson Dimovski who died following a hit and run incident at Warners Bay last year has welcomed a new package of support for families impacted by serious road crimes.
Under the Victims Rights and Support Amendment Bill, introduced to state parliament last week, family members of a person killed in a car crash where someone has been charged in relation to the crash will have access to 22 hours of counselling through the Victims Support Scheme.
The service will also be available even if charges haven't been laid because the offender died or cannot be located. However, it does require there to be sufficient evidence to establish that an offence has occurred.
Bryson Dimovski was riding his electric scooter on the shoulder of Macquarie Road, 800 metres north of the Medcalf Street intersection, at Warners Bay on July 28 last year when he was struck by Jaycob Issac Gemza who was driving a Ford Falcon.
The 22-year-old has pleaded guilty to a charge of failing to stop and assist after a vehicle impact causing death, and not guilty to dangerous driving occasioning death - driving in a dangerous manner, and a backup count of negligent driving occasioning death.
He is due to face trial next year.
Bryson's parents Andrew and Melissa have been working with the Road Trauma Support group to increase penalties for dangerous driving following their son's death.
Earlier this year the Dimoviski's met with state MPs to share the story of how their lives had been devastated by Bryson's death.
Mr Dimovski said the new support measures recognised victims of road crimes suffered in a similar way to homicide victims..
"Like homicide victims, we feel the same pain. There's no difference," he said.
"It's been a long, slow process to get this recognition, but change is happening."
In a statement last week NSW Attorney General Michael Daley said the Victims Rights and Support Amendment Bill delivered on Labor's election commitment to offer grieving families the counselling support that they deserve.
"When we make this change, family victims of road crimes will be able to access critical mental health support through the Victims Support Scheme," he said
"We have listened to the community and delivered legislation that will make a real difference."
Mr Dimovski said the legislation was only a small part of the changes that were needed in relation to serious road crimes.
"It's one of many changes that we want done but it's a start. We have got a lot more on our agenda that we want to pursue and change," he said.
A petition calling for increased maximum penalties for offences such as dangerous driving was debated in March.
The online petition was launched by Angelina Kauffman, whose children died in a crash in Heckenberg last year.
The petition, which is also supported by the Road Trauma Support Group NSW, calls for the penalty for aggravated dangerous driving occasioning death to be increased from the current maximum penalty of 14 years.
In 2024 so far, 294 people have been killed on NSW roads, a statistic higher than the same time last year.
According to the Australian Road Safety Regulation, the economic cost of road crashes is estimated to be more than $27bn annually.
