Naomi McMaster
Welcome to the real world!
My name is Naomi McMaster.
I have been an Ambulance paramedic for the past 10 years. I live and work on the Mornington Peninsula.
I have seen, been to and have known family and friends your age that have lost their loved ones, due to speed, drugs, alcohol and driving irresponsibly.
I have 3 sons.
My sons have lost 2 of their friends on the Mornington Peninsula to motor vehicle crashes.
The first involved speed and alcohol, in which the young man ran off the road and hit a tree, he died instantly.
The other boy, only seventeen years old, died in his father’s arms, as a result of an irresponsible driver, who over took a car on the crest of a hill with double lines.
Young people are dying in road crashes at an alarming rate, seemingly having no regard for themselves, their passengers or other road users. The behaviour exhibited by young drivers is unacceptable. As a group, we have put this presentation together in an attempt to give you the power to take responsibility for your actions and change this behaviour.
You are now approaching the time where you will find yourselves with responsibilities you have not had before.
As licenced drivers, you will have to make decisions on your own.
All these decisions have consequences. You need to know what you are in for, however unpleasant it maybe.
So, Welcome to the real world!
The reason you have been invited here today, is for us to help you understand, that this can happen to you and your friends.
The choices you make when you get behind the wheel of a car can have very direr consequences.
We know that you realise that this is a serious message and we all make mistakes, but when we complicate simple mistakes with inexperience, alcohol, drugs, speed, dangerous behaviour, showing off or distractions inside and outside the vehicle then one mistake, for some people, is all it takes and someone will die!
You might kill your mates and you will have to live with that on your conscious for the rest of your life.
You need to ask yourself “could I live with that”?.
I have attended numerous crashes on the Peninsula, all due too either, speed, alcohol or irresponsible driving.
The most horrific crash I have attended involved 5 young men aged between 18 and 22 on the Esplanade in Crib Point.
It had just turned midnight when the call came through, High speed MVA, single car verses pole, in Crib Point.
The Hastings Ambulance crew were on scene and required backup of Advanced Life support, Intensive Care and Air ambulance crews.
As we approached the Esplanade in Crib Point, we noticed a car on it’s roof and a fire truck next to it.
As we pulled over, the fireys said “keep going, this is not your crash it is further down the road”.
We turned the next bend Police, Fire and Rescue trucks with bright lights were everywhere.
There was a silver station wagon wrapped around a power pole with one person hanging out through the front window.
At a quick glance, it was obvious to see, a young male, dead.
There were three other boys in the back seat
– one lying on the floor dead
– two other boys screaming in pain lying on top of him and one person in the front passenger seat.
The first boy to be cut out of the car was the front seat passenger. After inserting a breathing tube into the male in the front seat, he was flown to the Alfred hospital in Melbourne with severe head injuries.
We put blankets over the two dead boys as we could not get them out of the car.
Intensive care paramedics had to also insert a breathing tube into one of the boys trapped in the back seat, who also had severe head and horrific injuries to his legs, he was trapped by the other boy still lying in the back of the car on top of his dead mate, who was also trapped by his legs.
I can tell you as second crew on scene, it was and still is the most horrific crash I have attended.
It took 2 1/2 hrs, and many resources, just to free these young men from the vehicle, 3 helicopters were used to fly them to the major trauma centre in Melbourne
At this Crib Point crash, 5 young men’s lives were changed forever. They were at the beginning of their careers in the Navy. They were fit and healthy and had plans to travel the world and defend our country.
Instead 2 of them are now dead and won’t have that opportunity and 3 of them might never be able to serve in the Navy or work again.
The surviving boys will carry the death of their colleagues and friends with them for the rest of their lives.
The scenes that have been on the wall behind me of that crash in Crib Point are what we encounter every day when young people are killed needlessly on our roads.
I would now like to read two letters that I have received from families of two of the young men from that horrible crash.
“We would like to thank all the medical teams who attended our sons “crash”. Our son
