It was a happy scene but there was an underlying sadness. Darcy’s dad, Gavin, was absent, his life taken on a day that started like any other but ended in tragedy. 

All that remains of the loving father, who grew up in Sussex Inlet and returned to the area to raise his family, are memories and photographs. And there is a determination on the part of his widow to ensure his death wasn’t in vain – that action is taken to make the highway safer.  

Alison’s story is a stark reminder that tragedy can strike at any time – and that, as a consequence, many other lives can be turned upside down.

Her journey through the bureaucratic maze that followed the accident would challenge most ordinary people. Compensated for the loss of earning capacity and the ability to work, she fell just shy of qualifying for an additional payment for pain and suffering. This was on the basis of a 20-minute interview.

The family business she and Gavin had bought and built up in eight short months had to be sold. The lifestyle they had built for themselves and their two children was destroyed.

Alison has found the strength to speak up about her experience. She says this would have impossible in the immediate wake of the accident.

The most compelling point she makes is that highway safety is not just about money – it’s about people. It’s about her children, who face life without a father. It’s about his social group and the mate they have lost. It’s about the community in which he grew up.

She is convinced that had the highway been divided at the spot where the oncoming truck lost control, had there been some kind of barrier between lanes, the driver error that triggered the accident would not have been fatal.

Every time she hears of another accident on the highway, she wonders whether an upgrade might have prevented the tragedy. She’s certain it would. Every time she drives up to Nowra, she relives the day she lost Gavin.  

We applaud Alison for her courage in speaking out, for wanting to #fixitnow.