A HORSHAM family believes they are living proof that a driver’s fate on the roads is often in someone else’s hands.
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Tania and John Davey were involved in a freak incident on the Western Highway last year.
They believe their lives were changed by one person’s mistake.
That mistake meant Mr and Mrs Davey have lost their business and are still trying to rebuild their lives more than a year later.
“I don’t want anyone to have to go through what we went through,” Mrs Davey said.
On June 21 last year, the pair were on their way back to Horsham after dropping their daughter off at the airport.
They were travelling along the Western Highway about five kilometres west of Buangor when they hit a tandem trailer that had swung out from a car, which was travelling in the opposite direction.
Mrs Davey doesn’t remember the incident, but Mr Davey has a clearer recollection.
“It was already dark, about 6pm – it was the shortest day of the year, so it was darker than usual,” he said.
“I could see the car headlights coming and then there was a big crunching sound – I had no idea what we had hit.
“I didn’t see it coming.”
When the car hit the trailer, it spun around before coming to a rest on the opposite side of the road.
Mr Davey only had minor injuries and got out of the car immediately.
He saw his wife slumped over the steering wheel.
“I thought she was dead,” he said.
“The front panel of the car was smashed in and both doors had been ripped off.
“I gave Tania a shake and realised she was alive – she started telling me to get her out of the car.
“I still didn’t know what we had hit.”
Mrs Davey spent about three hours inside the car before she was freed by emergency services.
She was in and out of consciousness the entire time.
Mrs Davey was taken to Melbourne by air ambulance.
She spent a month in The Alfred hospital and then spent three months at the Epworth hospital for rehabilitation.
She had spinal and head injuries and has had 13 surgeries in the past year.
“I only stopped using crutches about a month ago,” she said.
“My body still isn’t great.”
Mr Davey said he later learned they had hit a tandem trailer that was a carrying a racecar.
He said police told him the brakes to the trailer were not hooked up.
The pair believes that while safe driving is important, their fate was in someone else’s hands that night.
“We were in the wrong place at the wrong time and our lives changed in an instant,” Mrs Davey said.
“We were doing nothing wrong – I wasn’t speeding, I wasn’t on my phone.
“We couldn’t have changed what happened.”
Mrs Davey said it was important people checked their vehicles regularly.
“We lost our business of 16 years because one person didn’t check his brakes,” she said.
The couple owned a family day care business, but Mrs Davey no longer passes the physical requirements to do the job.
“I have to go back to studying now to up-skill myself, but my brain injury affects my ability to take in new information,” she said.
Mr Davey cares for his wife full time.
“We are at the age where we should be planning our retirement, but we have to plan a new beginning at 50 years old,” he said.
“We had the rug pulled out from under us.”
However, in the wake of a tragedy, the community rallied together to help the family.
“We lost our business of 16 years because one person didn’t check his brakes."
- Tania Davey
Mr Davey is a musician and has been playing in bands for more than 30 years.
“The bands put together benefits for us and organised fundraisers,” he said.
“Without their support we would be up shit creek without a paddle.”
Mrs Davey said the support made them appreciate the benefits of small towns.
“People know you, so they are eager to help,” she said.
“The experience has made us appreciate our friends and family so much more”
The TAC also stepped in to help.
“They have been amazing – they paid for the rehabilitation, everything,” Mrs Davey said.
“The air ambulance alone was nearly $10,000.
“I’ll never complain about paying registration again.”
Mrs Davey also thanked the people who stopped after the incident.
“The first car that stopped was someone who knew first aid and the second car was a doctor and a nurse,” she said.
“I don’t know who they are, but they worked on me for hours.
“The nurse jumped into the back of the car and held my head still.
“We were really lucky.”