Police impounded a 21-year-old South Australian man’s car after he was caught travelling at 144 kilometres an hour in a 100 kilometre and hour zone, on Apsley-Natimuk Road – 15 kilometres north of Apsley. 

The driver returned a 0.126 blood alcohol level and had five intoxicated passengers aged between 18 to 23 in the car.

Edenhope Sergeant Dale McIvor said he had seen the effect fatalities of young people and multiple young people had on tight-knit communities.

He said the driver and passengers were fortunate they were intercepted by police rather than killed.

“There’s an untold ripple effect,” he said.  

“It just sucks the life out of a community when there’s one fatality of a young person, let alone five or six.

“Imagine the hole that would put in a community for a significant period – one you would never recover from. It’s by the grace of god they’re not wrapped around a tree.”

Sergeant McIvor said he was disgusted by the recklessness of those involved.

He said he had seen first hand what results from such actions were.

“I’ve attended incidents involving multiple fatalities in very similar circumstances,” he said.

“For a personal perspective these boys they have no idea the significance of their actions or the potential for a catastrophic incident.

“It kills the area.”

Sergeant McIvor said although the driver lived across the border he considered all the people in the car as locals.

“The ramifications of those actions could have been so catastrophic,” he said.

“I don’t think the men realise the extent of their actions, what could have happened and the ramifications it would have had on a small community.

“It’s something that beggars belief that people would behave in this manner, particularly people with no recognition of the potential consequences.”

Sergeant McIvor said he had previously served as a lecturer in road trauma support services. 

He said he would love to sit down with those involved to talk about what he’s seen and the devastating and long-lasting effects fatalities have on those involved, families, friends and the wider community.