By Deanne Jeffers
WHEN a life is lost on our roads, it has a ripple effect across the entire community, impacting first responders, emergency services, teammates and classmates, friends and family in a profound way.
For Sharon O’Dwyer, who lost her son Matthew in an accident three years ago, the pain couldn’t be more personal and heart-wrenching.
Matthew was deeply involved in country sports, supporting the Shepparton United, Waaia, and Nathalia football and netball clubs in various roles. His death in 2021, at age 26, was the result of a single-vehicle accident near his home. Tragically, he became the 28th life lost on Victorian roads that year, a statistic that has only grown since.
Country footballers and netballers often travel hundreds of kilometres on regional roads for training, games, and social events. With young drivers and those on rural roads being disproportionately represented in road fatalities, teams must unite in spreading the message about road safety.
“Matt was beginning to make his way in the world, buying a home, playing football, chasing a senior premiership. Playing sport with his mates,” Sharon said. “On the day Matt died, he played cricket for Waaia Club … After the game, Matt and his team caught up for a meal. Heading home, he didn’t make it.”
Speed was the factor that cost Matt his life, and the message to young people is clear: slow down and arrive alive. This weekend (Friday, July 19 to Sunday July 21) Goulburn Valley League teams will come together for the GVL TAC Road Safety Round, to drive home the message that speed kills and that losing a teammate is a devastating blow to the community.
Sharon recently shared her story with Shepparton United FNC at their training and wellbeing session involving all Demons’ playing rosters. Donning the Demons scarf and carrying her late son’s boots and photo into Deakin Reserve underscored the deep sorrow felt by local sporting groups who lose one of their own prematurely.
“Matt’s death affected so many people, his family, his partner’s family, his work mates, the Under 17 team and their families, the players he was going to coach, the three senior football teams he played for, his schoolmates who still catch up with us a couple of times a year, the Tallygaroopna community where he was building his future,” said Sharon.
“Matt was a fairly cautious person and yet on that day, if only he slowed down,” she said. “There is no reward for taking this risk. It robbed us of our son.”
Senior constable Leigh Johnson, who attended the training and wellbeing session, said, “It’s incumbent of sporting clubs to develop people on and off the field by providing good education, role models and mentoring to young people to be careful on the road.
“The loss of someone in the community has a ripple effect – it affects the family and friends – and my heart goes out to Sharon with lived experience of this. It affects sports clubs, where they worked and went to school,” Leigh said. “You look at the statistics and they are high, but they also represent faces and real people.”
Eight lives have been lost on Victorian roads since Monday, July 8, 2024, bringing the total lives lost to 154, surpassing last year’s total of 152 at the same time last year.
