'It was like a movie. I woke up in hospital with my parents standing over me and I thought ‘something terrible has happened’.’

Cherilyn was the front seat passenger in a vehicle when it crashed on a rural road, not far from Canberra. The car was traveling at 100km/h when the driver, who was impaired by alcohol, left the road, smashed into a guardrail, flipped over a creek and nose-dived into a paddock, before rolling several times.

Another passenger in the car performed CPR on her until emergency services arrived. Once transported to Canberra Hospital, under the care of our Trauma Service, the full extent of her injuries became apparent.

‘I severed my femoral artery which caused me to lose my left leg, and I snapped my right femur (thigh bone). Both lungs collapsed – I couldn’t breathe on my own for a period of time – my kidneys failed, my bladder exploded and my urethra had to be rebuilt. I had to have an emergency stoma due to an injury to my bowel, my left arm was broken and I had cuts everywhere.’

Cherilyn was one of 170 patients admitted to Canberra Hospital last year as the result of a motor vehicle collision outside the ACT.

As the bush capital, we are surrounded by rural roads and sadly, the rate of serious road-related injury in rural areas is nearly twice that of those in major cities. Rural road crashes account for more than 65% of the Australian road toll.

Our Trauma Service cares for people with sudden, severe or life-threatening injuries, such as those from motor vehicle collisions, We treat people who’ve been severely injured anywhere from Bateman’s Bay to Lake Cargelligo and all the way down to the Victorian border.

Dr James Falconer is an emergency department doctor, and member of both our Trauma Service and Capital Region Retrieval Service, which retrieves people like Cherilyn who have traumatic injuries from rural motor vehicle collisions (and other scenarios). These retrievals usually happen via helicopter, thanks to the Toll SouthCare Rescue Helicopter and Capital Region Retrieval Service, which provides the medical flight crew for the helicopter

He says he’s been struck by how our landscape can impact rural road crashes: ‘when flying, it’s clear that while paddocks are generally clear of trees, road verges aren’t. You only have to make a tiny mistake to leave the road and hit a tree. I’ve seen cars quite literally wrapped around trees.

‘Most motor vehicle accidents aren’t really accidents at all; with the benefit of hindsight, you can usually see the cause, such as a momentary lapse in concentration. What happens in a moment can completely change your life.’

James says the five most common causes of fatal car crashes include speed, fatigue, not wearing seatbelts, driving under the influence and being distracted.

‘People can be tempted to speed on our long, open rural roads. About one third of fatalities are due to speed, and another third are caused by fatigue: the two combined are deadly.

‘We also see far too many people who don’t wear seatbelts. I’ve arrived at a scene to find a car with a neat hole in the windscreen and then have had to go hunting to find the person who’s been thrown from the car.

‘You’re ten times more likely to die in a motor vehicle collision if you don’t wear a seatbelt. Even at just 50km/hour, an 80kg person who comes to a sudden stop and isn’t wearing a seatbelt will become a 12 tonne projectile.’

Today, Cherilyn’s recovery is ongoing. She’s back home after a 7 month stint in hospital, still in a wheelchair and figuring out crutches until she decides on options for a new leg.

Cherilyn also dedicates some of her time to being a P.A.R.T.Y. Program ambassador, where she helps educate local students to recognise potential injury-producing situations, make prevention-oriented choices and minimise unnecessary risk.

‘When I talk to the kids, I wish I could have their parents there too, because we all tend to have the ‘it won’t happen to me’ attitude. It’s pure arrogance, because we’re all so aware of what can happen if you drive tired, over-confident, emotional or under the influence or speed or use your phone… People don’t think about whether it’s safe for them to be operating a vehicle.

‘When people make the choice to get behind the wheel of a car and think it won’t happen to them, they never stop to think of the phone call their family is going to get, or the trauma and flashbacks your family will have after being told “we’ve done everything we can, it’s up to her now”. This is all stuff that I never thought of either.’

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