Road crashes occur so often that we as a society seem to have become desensitized to the severity of them especially when it doesn’t involve us or people we love. Sadly road crashes can have far reaching and long term consequences not only for those involved but for their families and loved ones as well. Although trucks aren’t the only ones to blame for road crashes, sadly they are involved in a large number of accidents in comparison to the number of trucks on the road. This is understandable considering the amount of hours that truckies spend on the road. I recently read an article on IllwarraMercury.com.au which spoke about the haunting of a young lady and her grandmother by the accident which claimed the lives of someone very dear to them. The story speaks of Nicole Everson, who was just 13 years old when an out of control sand truck ploughed right into her house while she hung decorations near a window, killing her in an instant. The reason this story has resurfaced, despite taking place 15 years ago is because it happened less than 100metres away from the petrol tanker that rolled and exploded last Tuesday in Mona Vale. The article was posted on www.illawarramercury.com.au , this excerpt explains morel:

Her sister Michelle, 11, was severely injured and Wollongong father-of-four Silverio Garcia died after the truck obliterated his Mitsubishi Lancer. Nicole’s grandmother, Josie Everson said she felt sick when she heard two people had lost their lives in almost the exact same spot 15 years later. “It just gave me the shivers. It just brought everything back and it was a horrible feeling,” Ms Everson said. “I thought, ‘Will I ring my son in Queensland, the one who lost his daughter?’  I sort of stopped myself ringing them in case it brought it all back again.” As Ms Everson raced to the crash scene on Tuesday, the memories of Nicole’s death on June 5, 1998, came rushing back. Source: http://www.illawarramercury.com.au/story/1818535/truck-horror-agonising-memories-flood-back/?cs=12 Source: http://www.abc.net.au/news/2013-10-01/two-dead-in-fuel-tanker-crash-in-sydney27s-north/4991974

The scene of the accident on Tuesday. The tanker caught on fire causing smoke to billow into the air and fuel to spill onto the road. Some say the flames were as high up as 30 metres. Ms Everson and others in the area said they could not believe that there had been no improvements done to Mona Vale Road since Nicole’s death over a decade ago. The area has a significantly larger population than it did back them and yet still nothing has been done to widen the road or slow motorist, particularly truck drivers down. Ms Everson was quotes as saying:

“The road needs to be widened, they have to be widened. There’s a lot more people living here now and still nothing has been done about that road,” she said. “They have to do something about slowing people down. Source: http://www.illawarramercury.com.au/story/1818535/truck-horror-agonising-memories-flood-back/?cs=12