Australian mum, Rylea Taylor, 30, is petitioning the National Road Transport Commission after a car crash left her two children in hospital with critical injuries.
The mother-of-two is calling for harsher punishments for reckless drivers across Australia following a devastating car accident involving her family as they drove along the Newell Highway on route to Queensland.
Taylor says that teenage boys were doing burnouts in their car and collided with her vehicle, causing the crash that nearly claimed the lives of her nine-year-old daughter, Shayne and her 16-month-old son, Jaxon
“On the 15th of September three boys decided to do doughnuts and burnouts beside a bend in a NSW highway at 11am,” Taylor began in her online petition.
“Their stupidity cost my family more than you could imagine. As my car came around the bend at around 100-110km/h dust covered the road. The p-platers had released their brake and drove straight out onto the highway. For a split second I saw dust and then the force hit. The collision so hard that all airbags were deployed,” she explained of the life-changing accident.
“My nine-year-old daughter was unconscious, my 16-month-old son was screaming – both were bleeding from their tiny faces. As I kicked open the crushed door I was faced with the three responsible boys – in school uniform – who had just broken my family.”
“As I pulled my son from the car I knew his neck was broken,” she said, before explaining how she tried to put on a brave face for her children.
“I tried to remain calm, I tried desperately to hold my children, I told them we were OK… Even though my heart told me otherwise. I tried not to cry, I tried to be strong because they needed me.”
“In the country hospital we were transferred to I helped cut the clothing from my baby, the tiny little shorts and shirt I had dressed him in only hours before.”
In the emotional petition, the angered mum outlined the horrific injuries that her two children received as a result the teenagers’ reckless actions, and the ongoing impact that these injuries will have on their young lives.
“My daughter had fractured vertebrae and need 3.5 hours of surgery to fix the damage caused internally. My son had a broken c1 and c2 [vertebrae], a broken collarbone and lacerations. He was intubated and sedated – medically kept sleeping for three days.”
“It took teams of specialists to put my children back together because three stupid, immature boys saw their licence as a right and not a privilege,” she said.
“My children will have rehabilitation, physio appointments, scars and a life different to the one I hoped for them,” she added.
“I hoped they could play the sports they chose, they could jump on a trampoline, play together and run and be children – at no point ever will I have the joy of watching my children play without fearing that they will be hurt by their injuries caused to them by someone’s stupidity.”
She goes on to explain that police told her that although the boys were responsible for the accident due to their reckless driving, they were unlikely to receive a custodial sentence, despite the serious injuries that her children sustained.
In the passionate online plea, the mother expressed her disappointment in the boys’ lack of remorse and is calling on states across Australia to introduce tighter laws for reckless driving that carry harsher punishments to make drivers think before they choose to drive dangerously.
“The laws should be the same Australia wide, if you drive recklessly and destroy the life’s of other you should be punished, you don’t deserve to drive,” she says.
“A suspended licence and fine changes nothing for the driver. Australia needs to deter others from ruining innocent people’s lives.”
“If someone has destroyed another persons life they don’t deserve a slap on the wrist and a right to a second chance,” she said, “Stand up, take their licence off them and punish them accordingly.”
The petition has been signed by over 6,000 supporters since it was posted five days ago.
To pledge your support you can add your online signature to Rylea Taylor’s petition here.
See Rylea’s interview with Channel 7 below.
