On the bend north of the Bendalong turn-off, the highway surface is stained with the detritus of catastrophe. A bunch of flowers is taped to a guide post. It’s an eerie reminder that here three lives were lost on Boxing Day and a fourth a few days later.
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The bend of which the crash occurred is not particularly sharp. Travelling from the north it sweeps left. Vegetation has been recently cleared from the roadside, improving visibility and making the verge safer.
Already, there is plenty of speculation about what caused Ulladulla man Craig Whitall to cross into the path of the Mazda carrying the Falkholt family. He was reportedly returning from Nowra, where he is said to have been at a methadone clinic. Whether he was impaired by the drug, used to treat withdrawal from heroin, will probably never be known. As with many prescription drugs, it is legal to have methadone in your system – unless, of course, you are impaired by it.
What is really disturbing about this quadruple fatality is the possibility that a random encounter on a bend with a driver who may have been affected by drugs could have happened to any of us.
Whether that driver crossed to the wrong side of the road because of drug or alcohol impairment, fatigue or inattention, the outcome would probably be the same. All can be equally deadly.
The trauma that accompanies such an accident extends beyond the immediate victims and their family and friends.
Sydney Morning Herald journalist Helen Pitt, a regular visitor to the South Coast, wrote eloquently of being held up by the accident on Boxing Day.
“Little did we know not far down the road a single mother of three called Lisa Elmas, from Narrawallee on the South Coast, was attending to a dreadful head-on collision on the Princes Highway. Elmas, 44, a former hairdresser who now works in disability services, was one of the first drivers at the accident scene,” she wrote.
“She yelled for help, asking if anyone had fire extinguishers to put out the flames, and scissors to cut the survivors out of their seatbelts. She put her own life at risk to drag the two girls out of the car before it exploded.”
Ms Elmas’ quick thinking helped get the Falkholt sisters out of the burning car. As we know, one has died while the other clings to life.
One wonders how we’d cope coming across a horrific scene like this and how we’d in the days following. A sobering thought.
