Nothing generates fury quite like another report of rock throwing near the Nowra bridge. Despite efforts to catch the offenders, it seems the idiocy returns with great regularity, leaving people to ask, when will a hapless motorist or passenger die?
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The dangers of rock throwing became horribly apparently on July 22, 2007 when Nicole Miller (pictured with her husband Andrew), asleep in a car travelling along the Princes Highway, was struck by a 1kg rock hurled from an embankment near Bombo.
The young beauty therapist almost died as a result of the act of reckless stupidity, committed by 25-year-old Kiama Downs man Peter Hodgkins. Hodgkins was sentenced to four years’ jail but Nicole was left with a life sentence – permanent disabling injuries, including weakness, dizzy spells and a deterioration of her fine motor skills on her left hand side.
The Shoalhaven community rallied around Nicole, helping to finish the home she was to move into with her fiance, later husband, Andrew. Locals were sympathetic but also angry that one of their own, with such a promising future, could be put through so much pain through an act of criminal stupidity.
Those memories have been rekindled in recent days after yet another rock-throwing attack near the bridge over the Shoalhaven River. Our report prompted Nicole to suggest on Facebook that CCTV cameras on and around the bridge would help.
Given the bridge has become a hot spot for rock throwing, her suggestion makes sense. There are already cameras on the northern approaches to the bridge and the investment in a couple more to cover the southern end might just result in the rock throwers being caught and taken out of circulation.
The bridge and the highway are the responsibility of Roads and Maritime Services. It has a duty of care to keep the road and the crossing safe. The ongoing issue of rock throwing in the area is a public safety concern. So, too, the dangerous summer pastime – also involving young offenders – of jumping from the bridge.
CCTV cameras might not deter offenders but could very well help catch them and bring them before the courts. And that in itself might just turn their aimless lives around, as it did in the case of Hodgkins, who went on to talk to schoolchildren about the consequences of rock throwing. If that saves a life, it is a worthwhile investment.
