By XAVIER SMERDON
A WERRIBEE mother and daughter who lost their son and brother in a tragic car accident are working to get dangerous drivers off Victoria’s roads.
Margaret and Lisa Markovic have recently launched Road Trauma Families Victoria, a group that aims to educate the community on the impact of dangerous driving and create reform in road and sentencing laws.
Daniel Markovic was just 22 when he was killed by a drunk driver who was in an unregistered and unroadworthy car and had never earned a licence.
The driver had also been before a magistrate three times for culpable driving before the accident.
When he was tested after the crash it was found that he had a blood alcohol reading of 0.226.
To make matters worse Daniel was only driving because he wanted to stop his friend from getting behind the wheel while he was drunk.
“He had taken the keys off his friend and said ‘I’m driving’. Apparently he did that a lot we found out after the fact,” Margaret Markovic told Star.
Mrs Markovic said the pair were using their experience to try and create meaningful change to the road toll.
“We’re representing families who are victims of road trauma due to culpable driving,”she said.
“I didn’t know anything at all about road trauma before the accident.
“Until you’re thrown into this world of horror you don’t know, and why should you?”
Mrs Markovic’s home is now full of articles from newspapers regarding accidents and driver sentences in an effort to keep her on top of everything going on in the field.
She said she would like to see families who have experienced road trauma to have more input in the justice system and for magistrates to take a stronger stand against dangerous drivers.
For more information visit www.roadtraumafamiliesvictoria.org.au
