"Kiere had sent 22 texts in the ten minutes before she died"
Alex Cullen met two families torn apart by distracted drivers and tests the technology soon to be appearing in cars that could curb the crisis.
Jennard Rose hugged us all twice. That doesn’t happen very often with a person you’ve just interviewed. She hugged our producer Nick Farrow, then our cameraman Laurence Curson, me and then our sound recordist Stan Leong. Then she hugged us all again, fighting back the tears as she did so.
It’s been four years since Jennard’s daughter Kiere died at the very spot we stood on a highway just out of Dalby on Queensland’s Darling Downs and it never gets easier.
Kiere was 20 years old and was writing a message on her mobile phone at almost the very second she drove onto the wrong side of the road and straight into an oncoming truck.
A witness said she didn’t even brake and Kiere didn’t stand a chance.
It’s hard not to be emotionally affected when you’re sitting in front of a father who is in obvious physical pain and almost struggling to breathe as he describes the day two police officers came to his door and told him his wife Michelle, 22 year old son Josh, 16 year old daughter Jessica and mother in law Bev were all killed in a car crash.
How do you register that? In the hours before, he’d been trying to call their mobile phones and no one answered. He assumed they were out of range.
Darren Doyle cried like any father would after losing his entire family. It was a deep, quiet cry that no one could stop.
He sobbed as he looked down at the floor and I asked if he wanted to stop the interview but this tough timber worker from Mount Gambier didn’t want to as his sorrow turned to anger. Anger that a distracted driver caused this crash and now no one called him Dad anymore.
Sergeant Brett Stevenson is a cop who I’d have a beer with. He wouldn’t have many because he seems the responsible type and has a quiet toughness to him that you want in a cop.
He’s the guy you want around if a fight breaks out in a pub. Not because he’d thump someone, just the opposite. He’d break it up, calm everyone down, and really make sure everyone was alright but if someone did thump him, well, best of luck.
Brett was unlucky enough to be called that overcast spring day near Dalby to an accident on the Warrego highway.
He knew it was bad because, as he approached, there was smoke billowing from something and cars were backed up for a kilometre already.
A ute was on fire and a couple of truck drivers were trying to put it out with small fire extinguishers.
Just imagine the scene: onlookers were taking photos on their mobile phones. The ute exploded into an even bigger ball of flames and there was nothing anyone could do.
Kiere Nebe Rose had sent 22 text messages in the ten minutes before she died. We know that because Brett Stevenson found Kiere’s mobile phone metres from the wreckage.
Brett has attended plenty of fatal car accidents but this one stays with him and he would later need counseling to come to terms with it. Brett’s daughter is always on her mobile phone. Always texting, always on snapchat or facebook and Kiere could’ve easily been his daughter, or a mate’s daughter. Just imagine.
Darren Doyle lost his daughter, his son, his wife and mother-in-law because a farmer was playing with his GPS when he should’ve been concentrating on the road. Darren’s family and another young man, Brad Kelly, were on their way back to Mount Gambier after a business meeting in a town nearby.
Five happy people driving along a quiet country road but up ahead, a truck suddenly spun sideways straight into their path. There was nothing Josh, the driver, could do. Everyone except Brad, who was sitting in the front passenger seat, died instantly. Brad had broken his pelvis and pulled himself from the car now on its side. He’s still deeply affected by what he saw that day.
He told me he turned around to see if anyone had survived. What he saw meant that no one had survived and Brad wishes more than anything that he could forget that sight but he can’t.
It’s with him, always because Alexander Wooldridge looked at his GPS before driving out onto an intersection and causing the deaths of 4 people. Darren Doyle visits his family’s graves every day and talks to them.
Sometimes, he’ll ask his wife’s advice on something and tells me it makes him feel better. He’s moved back home with his parents and his father sits off to the side during our interview. He sits quietly crying every now and then because he’s lost his grandchildren and knows his son’s life will never be the same again.
He needs to stay positive and keep his son busy with trips away and extended family gatherings every Saturday night.
There’s a good chance you’ll do it on your way home from work. You’ll probably do it while you’re on google maps trying to find a shop you’ve never been to. You’ll probably do it as you message your husband or wife who needs an answer from you about what time your child’s soccer game starts. You’ll probably do it as your boss rings and wants to know where you’re up to with that file.
It’s using your phone or your GPS while you’re driving. The thought of it seems inconceivable to me now.
After seeing what I’ve seen and talking to the people I’ve spoken to, I’ll never do it again. Ever.
So what do we do about it? Police are cracking down on distracted drivers but it isn’t working.
Sergeant Brett Stevenson sees people talking or texting on their phones while driving every day. He’s pulled drivers over who are so distracted by their phones, they haven’t noticed him walking up to their car or even heard the sirens.
In New South Wales a couple of weeks ago, police pulled over 1184 people who were on their phones while driving. That’s nearly 1200 people in one state in one day. Brett doesn’t think the problem is going away any time soon. There is one option and it involves fighting technology with, would you believe, more technology.
The company Seeing Machines was started by four researchers at the Australian National University back in 1999. They’ve since developed a new invention called Fovio that uses facial recognition technology to alert drivers if they’re distracted. That may come in the form of a loud noise or vibration of the seat to jolt you back to the task at hand, and away from what might be in your hand.
You can expect to see it in cars in the US next year and here not long after. It seems we’re willing to try anything to break the habit that could be as simple as putting our phones in the glove box or even in the boot. Mine is now in the centre console every time I drive.
This facial recognition technology has the potential to revolutionise car safety, much like the seat belt did when it became mandatory in Australia in 1973.
Sergeant Brett Stevenson will be watching its progress very closely and hopes for the day he won’t need to pull over yet another distracted driver or have to attend a fatal car crash caused by something that we can so easily prevent.
Unfortunately that day won’t come any time soon and we’ll suffer through more TV ads and awareness campaigns as we drive through life thinking it won’t happen to us. After spending time with the Rose and Doyle families, pray it doesn’t.
Watch the full story and more this Sunday 8:00PM.
