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Hope that loss sparks reform

The past 18 months have been a nightmare for the family of 71-year-old Graham Holtfreter.

The Busselton grandfather died in a fiery accident involving an out-of-control fuel tanker and four other vehicles.

The accident was random but the family’s pain is made worse by fears the same thing could happen again.

They don’t want Mr Holtfreter’s death to be in vain and for the first time they have decided to speak out about it.

On Monday, daughter Christine Weston will tell a WA road transport industry forum in Maylands about the impact the accident had on her mother and family.

The deadly fuel tanker rollover and explosion.

But perhaps most importantly she will also call for action.

She wants the WA Government to follow other States and introduce mandatory annual mechanical inspections for trucks and heavy haulage vehicles.

And she wants these vehicles fitted with anti-roll technology.

Mr Holtfreter was a retired engineer from Busselton with three children, six grandchildren and a great-grandchild.

After a holiday in New Zealand where they celebrated their 48th wedding anniversary, Mr Holtfreter and his wife Maxine caught up with Sydney friends Peter and Margaret Wem on October 1, 2013.

Mr and Mrs Holtfreter were in the back as the couples drove along Mona Vale Road in Sydney’s northern suburbs when the driver of an oncoming Cootes Transport fuel tanker lost control and the vehicle rolled on its side.

It hit a power pole before ploughing into the couples’ car and three other vehicles. Thousands of litres of petrol spewed out and erupted into a fireball.

Mr Holtfreter and Mr Wem died in the inferno.

The tanker driver, 47, was charged with offences including dangerous and negligent driving causing death. His trial is scheduled for two days in Sydney next month.

Authorities across Australia, including in WA, ordered immediate inspections of all Cootes Transport vehicles, which resulted in hundreds of charges against the company in NSW and Victoria.

NSW now requires all tankers carting dangerous goods to have an anti-roll electronic stability control braking system that stabilises a vehicle and alerts the driver if their trailer is starting to tip.

Ms Weston believes similar regulations should be introduced in WA.

Since last July, Ms Weston has written twice to the Minister for Transport urging that ESC braking systems be fitted to all trucks with hazardous loads.

“We would like to see a law in every State of Australia which requires ESC systems on trucks carrying dangerous goods,” she wrote.

“Nothing is going to bring Dad and Peter back but we simply cannot sit quietly and wait for the same type of crash to happen to other families before the laws are changed.”

Transport Minister Dean Nalder said Ms Weston raised a number of serious issues that would be investigated.

She said nothing had changed in WA in the 18 months since her father’s death, while NSW and Victoria did research and introduced the changes.

Monday’s forum is organised by not-for-profit group Transafe WA, which promotes safe practices in transport. The WA Government will be represented by the parliamentary secretary to the Minister for Road Safety Alyssa Hayden.


He had asked the Department of Transport to initiate talks with the Department of Mines and Petroleum, which sits on the Australian Standards advisory panel for tanker design, and prepare a report.
Ms Weston says her mother was keen to see something positive from the tragedy.
She said she would very much like to see legislative changes to save others the trauma and suffering she had endured.
“My father was a man of integrity,” Ms Weston said. “If he thought something was wrong, he would look for a solution.
“I have decided to speak because I know that’s what Dad would have done.”