It’s the start of the Easter long weekend and you’re probably about to hop in your car to visit family or escape the city for a few days with friends.
But before you rush out to beat the holiday traffic, or get behind the wheel after one too many glasses of red, take Renee Dew’s advice.
Be vigilant.
Her third child, four-year-old Hunter Dew was one of the 12 Australians killed on the road during the Easter long weekend in 2012. And one of the 81 Australians to lose their lives over this holiday period in the past five years.
It was the afternoon of April 8. Renee Dew and her husband, David decided “in the spur of the moment” to take their children for a walk. They were starting to do this every Sunday. And this Sunday, the chocolate eggs were in the pantry, waiting for the Easter egg hunt they would soon set up.
They were walking through Lakala Park – not far from their home – in the coastal town of Port Elliot in South Australia.
It’s a town of less than five thousand, an hour and a half away from Adelaide, so when the summer holidays arrive – or any holiday for that matter – the city folk arrive as well, and the holiday homes fill up along with the beaches and the pubs. The roads, too.
As they walked, it started raining. Renee and David pulled their kids under the rotunda in the park. Laughing, they waited there until the rain stopped. Then they kept walking to the main street, crossing the road to get home.
David walked across first with their dog, but his wife waited with their two daughters and two sons, as a few cars drove past. Renee had her youngest son in the pram. Hunter stood to her right.
“Don’t cross the road”, Renee said.
But in a split second Hunter was running across that road. And as Renee screamed at him to stop, a car didn’t.
The driver was travelling from another town to visit his mother nearby.
Hunter’s hooded jumper had caught the front of the car when it hit him, and he was dragged underneath the vehicle before the driver could realise what had happened, Renee claims.
“It was seconds. And then it felt like time had stopped because I remember screaming at him when he got out of the car to ring the ambulance. He was just so shocked,” Renee tells The Weekly.
“I remember people running from all different directions and telling me he was going to be okay.
“I sat at the top of his head, because there was so much damage to his body I couldn’t have picked him up, and I knew that the moment I ran onto the road and saw him.
“I will never forget the impact of a car hitting him. And my screams.”
Hunter never came home, and there was no Easter egg hunt that day.
Three years on, there’s now a set of pedestrian lights where Hunter was hit. Renee Dew has fought for them for years, contacting local schools, councils, road safety organisations and starting a petition, with the introduction of an age care facility nearby helping win their fight for instillation.
Passionate about road safety since before Hunter’s death, Renee says use of phones while driving and the ‘lead foot’ are some of the biggest problems on the road, especially during the holiday period.
“I think there are so many people around – pedestrians, cyclists, kids – and you’re putting their lives at risk constantly by speeding. Nothing is so important that you need to put your foot down and go a few extra kilometres,” she says.
And as for Easter in the Dew household, it’s different now. The children get their Easter eggs on Good Friday instead. And they don’t plan much.
“It’s hard to plan when you don’t know how you’ll feel on the day.”
Hunter’s brother and sisters have experienced post-traumatic stress, including flashbacks, says Renee, while she and her husband get through one day at a time.
When The Weekly spoke to Renee, Indiana – her second daughter – was home from school for the day.
“At the moment, they have to do Easter activities at school and they’re finding that difficult,” says Renee, who has recently started studying counselling ‘to help other bereaved parents’.
They haven’t had an Easter egg hunt since, but they all hold each other a little tighter, closer. Along with their memory of Hunter.
Parts of this article may be distressing for some readers. If you are struggling with the loss of a family member, please contact Lifeline on 13 11 14
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