Home » Accidents » Motorcycle Accident »

More care on roads

Jun 7, 2010 | Shannon McRae | Herald Sun

Terry Groves, 36, was killed when his motorcycle speared into a power pole on Dandenong Rd, East St Kilda, on Wednesday night.

Bernadette Fisher-Groves said that she was shattered by the loss of the love of her life and father of their three beautiful children.

Ms Fisher-Groves begged motorists to remember her tragedy in the hope it may save a life.

"Before this happened I used to look at the road toll and say, 'Great, it's down a few from this time last year'," she said.

"But every single person is a mother, a father, a daughter, a son, a friend -- whatever.

"When I first heard them reporting Terry's death on the news saying, 'A man in his 30s has been killed', I really wanted people to know his name. He's not just a statistic."

The Avondale Heights woman wants anyone who may think of the road toll as a set of numbers to know Terry Groves spent two years as a house husband while she worked, and delighted in being a hands-on dad.

Ms Fisher-Groves wants them to know how hard it was to tell Caitlin, 7, Alexander, 5 and Michael, 4, their multi-talented dad, who loved all things technical, scuba diving and socialising with his many mates, wouldn't be coming home.

But most importantly, she wants motorists to remember him by doing all they can to prevent more carnage.

"They should go and feel my husband's corpse and feel how cold he is," Ms Fisher-Groves said.

"He was a wonderful man who we should have had for much longer.

"We need to all take responsibility.

"If everyone just takes that little bit more care and attention, we might make a difference."

Ms Fisher-Groves said complacency often caused crashes.

A theatre nurse at Melbourne hospitals for the past 13 years, she has seen the damage inattention at the wheel can do.

"It's all a bit mundane for people, they think they know how to drive and they don't have to put much effort in," Ms Fisher-Groves said.

"Don't vague out, don't be a hoon, don't text while you're driving.

"I don't know how we're going to get the message through to people."

Mr Groves was one of six people killed in a horror 24 hours on Victorian roads.

A pedestrian was killed when two vehicles ran off the road in St Albans on Wednesday night.

Early on Thursday, Emre Basturk, 25, from St Kilda and his friend Maria Chiotelis, 26, from Narre Warren, died when Mr Basturk's $100,000 sports car ploughed into a pole on Punt Rd, Prahran.

About 2pm Thursday a 65-year-old Craigieburn man was killed when his car ran off the Hume Highway at Craigieburn.

And a man in his late 60s died at Mansfield when his car collided with parked cars and a fence in Malcolm St.