The high-speed car accident that claimed the lives of five teenagers in Mill Park on Sunday 17, January has brought back tragic memories for Doula Styllianou, whose son was killed in the much publicised fiery car crash on the West Gate Freeway.

On December 9, 2007, Peter Stavrou, 17 and three of his friends were returning from Schoolies week celebrations on the Mornington Peninsula when their Holden Commodore slid across the West Gate Freeway at Altona North and burst into flames as it ploughed backwards into trees.

“I remember what happened… what we’ve been through and we don’t want other people to go through this because it is the most difficult thing that could happen to any human,” Ms Styllianou said.

“Drinking and speeding is the last step. We need to find out the previous steps that led them to this behaviour, and educate our children at school from a young age.”

At a press conference last week, the Victorian Police Deputy Commissioner Ken Lay suggested that police needed to work better with health professionals, academics and educationalists to get to young people who engage in high risk situations before they get behind the wheel.

When Neos Kosmos English Edition (NKEE) contacted the Deputy Commissioner he said that the Police are happy to consider any initiative that will reduce serious injury crashes and lower Victoria’s road toll.

Lay further stressed that he strongly believed enforcement
strategies are working.

Monash University Accident Research Centre (MUARC) research fellow, Belinda Clark revealed to NKEE that she was conducting an evaluation of the vehicle impoundment legislation for the Victorian police.

“Because the legislation is relatively new, we will be actively interviewing young people who have had their cars impounded to determine the effectiveness of the legislation,” she said.

Fellow Monash University Research Centre (MUARC) researcher, Eve Mitsopoulos-Rubens agreed that the solution will extend beyond targeting countermeasures to this minority group.

“It is often assumed that the reason why young drivers have crashes is because they engage in deliberate risk but inexperience is a primary contributor as well,” she said.

“A young person may inadvertently put themselves in a risky situation because they do not have accurate awareness of their capabilities, nor do they have awareness of the demands of the task and so expose themselves to riskier situations beyond their capabilities.”

Mitsopoulos-Rubens underscored that driver training needs to extend beyond just being able to control a vehicle and to address higher order perceptual cognitive skills such as hazard perception, and multi-tasking.

She said that it was also important to educate young people about why graduated licensing measures are in place.

Car enthusiast George Spanos, 20, from Cottlesbridge agreed that education is the key, however does not think that this will stop hoon drivers in their tracks.

“If the government and police are serious about stopping repeat offenders, I think crushing a couple of cars would get the message across,” he said.