'Completely numb': Mum's agonising phone call about daughter's fatal crash
“It’s not a phone call that any parent should get. I was in so much shock. I just could not breathe, completely numb.”
It was May 16, 2009, when Judy Lindsay’s entire world crashed down around her. On the other end of the phone was news her 20-year-old daughter Hayley Russell had been tragically killed in a crash, just kilometres from her home in Alexandra Hills in Queensland.
Hayley and her friends organised a lift to go out and when the driver pulled up they all hopped in – a decision that proved fatal.
“He told the group that he was right to drive. He had severely underestimated how much alcohol he had in his body,” Senior Sergeant David Candale said in a video released by Queensland Police as part of a state-wide operation warning of road safety.
“He was a young male adolescent, minimal driving experience. He, with intent, started to swerve along the road. There were people in the car that were saying to him to stop what he was doing.”
Ms Lindsay said the driver had the music blaring while people in the backseat were “screaming for their lives to get out of the car”.
As the driver sped through the streets, a wheel popped off the car and the driver lost control and collided with an oncoming car.
Hayley, an innocent person in the backseat, was killed while the rest of the passengers escaped with only minor injuries.
“Hayley was lying on the side of the road with a sheet over her, and I stayed with her until emergency services came,” her mother said in the video.
The grieving parent described her daughter as a beautiful person who people could turn to when they needed help.
“She was always there for you, she was always there for her friends, she believed in doing the right thing and standing up for what you believe in and who you are.”
Her mother has teamed up with Queensland Police to tell her story to warn other young drivers about how their behaviour behind the wheel can have life-changing impacts.
“You have a group of people within that same age group who have been affected, and certainly the families,” Senior Sergeant Candale said.
“When we look at how it applies to the fatal five, we saw speeding, alcohol and seatbelts ... the people who got into the car, who probably under peer pressure, could have said no, but didn’t.
“And certainly the time of night, where a young person is more likely to be involved in an incident.”
Police also spoke about the trauma of being a first responder to these types of tragedies.
“It’s terribly hard, it’s one thing that you dread and you’re delivering that news to someone else and you know that news is going to forever change that family,” police said.
Ms Lindsay said her family still struggled, 11 years after that life-changing phone call.
“It’ll never go away. If you hop in the car, taking drugs or drink driving, there’s a big possibility you’re going to kill someone,” she said.
“Think about what you’re doing, because that next step that you take will change your life and someone’s life forever.”
Queensland Police Commissioner Katarina Carroll said in a statement it was important to remember the road toll was not just a number.
“Every person who dies on our roads has a network of family and friends who are left behind and whose lives are changed forever,” Commissioner Carroll said.
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