Presentation to VicRoads – Victims of Road Trauma
With the support of Lynette Flowers, RTFV presented an outline which gave attendees a holistic view of the minefield that victims of Road Trauma have to deal with and work through whilst grieving and in shock. The feedback and response during question time was extremely positive and encouraging. The number of attendees at this session resulted in standing room only. It was a wonderful opportunity and a humbling experience to represent, and be the voice for families dealing with the complexities of road trauma. Margaret was also given an opportunity to present her session to the members of Westgate RoadSafe at a recent meeting. RTFV was also heavily involved in the Alcohol Interlock Legislation, Road Safety Act re-peel with thanks to the Daniel Andrews Govt and Minister Donellan.
Margaret was invited by the VicRoads Policy Team to be a member of the working party and team members in reviewing the VicRoads Roadside Memorial Policy. This was another amazing experience and opportunity to meet and work alongside Engineers from a variety of Councils, agency personnel, VicRoads policy makers and extended staff.
Margaret was the only road trauma victim involved in this working party and was proud of her input, based on experience and family concerns related to roadside memorials. To discuss the emotion and grief attached to each roadside memorial, with those who are removed from the personal position, was not only a personal awakening, but a welcome challenge to bring a personal perspective to all involved.
Recently three members of RTFV attended a training session run by Phoenix Australia. The session was made possible by the funding received from the City of Wyndham. We identified a need for our members to participate in Professional Development, not only to prepare appropriately for meeting families in need but to assure sustainability for our organisation and those we support by using a ‘train the trainer’ model.
RTFV also attended the Road to Zero Community sessions which was also an important part of the MURAC Conference which Margaret Markovic and Lynette Flowers attended. It was a very rewarding experience with relevant information shared by road safety experts, many of which travelled from overseas in support of community leaders and local experts who invited and encouraged participation of audience members during question time. We look forward to attending the next Conference in 2017.
We look forward to working together as like-minded, pro-active members to achieve our common goal – ‘Zero Toll should be your goal”.