2:42pm Thursday 26th November 2009
By Lawrence Dunhill
THE HORRIFIC impact of dangerous driving was brought home to youngsters this morning, with a policewoman saying she had “the worst job in the world”.
Hundreds of school pupils packed into the Wycombe Swan to hear the experiences of a crash victim's parents, a driver convicted of death by dangerous driving and the emergency services.
A hard-hitting film and first hand accounts brought the Thames Valley Police 'Safe Drive Stay Alive' campaign to life for pupils.
The schools included Beaconsfield High School, Amersham and Wycombe College and the Royal Grammar School.
Police sergeant Kelly Hobson told pupils that having to tell a crash victim's family they were killed in an accident is “the worst job in the world”.
She said: “When I knock on the door I feel sick because I'm going to change somebody's life forever.
“No parent should have to outlive their child and no parent should have to identify their child to me.”
On average more than two people die each week and around 180 are injured in crashes in the Thames Valley area, which includes Buckinghamshire, Berkshire and Oxfordshire.
Many in the audience struggled to hold back tears as Paul and Susan Friday, whose son Richard died in a car accident in 2004 told them: “We belong to a club and it's a club we don't want your parents to belong to.”
The couple, who live in Stone said: “He was coming back from Thame fair with three friends and no one had their seat belt on. The car was going over 100 miles an hour.
They said Richard, who was a passenger in the car, "liked pushing barriers and living for the moment" and had a music system in his car that was “more expensive than the car itself”.
They added: “We have so many unanswered questions – why weren't they wearing seatbelts, why were they speeding, why did they have to die?”
A paramedic told pupils she spent most of the time travelling to accidents “worrying about what we might find when we get there”.
She said: “The hardest thing I've ever had to do in my career was get a blanket to cover up a dead girl [passenger] while her boyfriend [the driver] was screaming at me saying 'why aren't you doing your job, why aren't you helping my girlfriend'.
A firefighter urged pupils to wear a seat belt and told them about his role in the aftermath of an accident.
He said: “I've got a job to do and I do it - we all do but it still sends a shiver down my spine.
Eighteen-year-old Rachel O'Donoghue, from London, broke her legs in several places in a car accident and told pupils: “I'll regret that night for the rest of my life.”
Caroline Rayner, 17, from Beaconsfield High School, had just passed her driving test before the event.
She said: “I'm glad I came because it's had a big impact on me. When you're a passenger you always think it's going to be all right but this just reminds you to be careful.
Daniel Newsome, 16, from Amersham and Wycombe College, said: “That's actually scared me to death be honest. I'm definitely wearing a seatbelt whenever I get in a car.
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