"You choose the consequences of your driving" is a powerful message relayed in Mount Isa and Cloncurry this week.
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It was part of a youth road safety presentation by husband and wife team Peter and Melissa McGuinness from the Gold Coast.
The McGuinnesses know from tragic personal circumstances the consequences of bad driving.
In 2012 their 18-year-old son Jordan McGuinness made an impromptu decision to drive home to the Gold Coast after a Christmas party in Brisbane.
On the M1, his speeding car smashed into the back of a vehicle broken down on the side of highway, smashing it into the guard rail where it exploded in flames.
Jordan and four of the five young occupants of the other car died in the collision.
Jordan had been drinking and was under the influence of marijuana at the time of his death.
Jordan's parents emerged from their own grief to create a foundation called You Choose Youth Road Safety and they were presenting to students at local schools and to the public assisted by local police.
Peter McGuinness said it took three years after the terrible events of 2012 to "put one foot in front of the other", but a key breakthrough was imagining the perspective of the victims.
"There was a lot of hatred towards us on social media which was understandable under the circumstances," Peter said.
"After about three years Melissa was invited to speak about Jordan's decision making at a 'save day' event on the Gold Coast, which community police officers organised at schools."
The McGuinnesses thought this was going to be a one off but it was so well received by police and the kids they were encouraged to repeat it.
"It turns out there was organic growth in what we were doing that we had to formalise the program a bit more," Peter said.
"Now here we are five years down the track and we've very much moved past a cautionary tale."
Peter said they call a youth-led mission to change driving culture.
"We've got over 1000 participants in the program and the one thing we've learned is that they very much don't see themselves as victims, but they all see themselves having the ability to change the world around them, or if not that, to protect their loved ones," he said.
"So these are the issues we focus on, it's more of a social mission than a road safety lecture."
Peter said they talked about something people don't automatically associate with driving culture: Love
"We don't seek sympathy for what Jordan did, the sympathy belongs to his victims," he said.
"We talk about Jordan passed on feelings about culpability and we talk about the fact every young person has the chance to protect their family and their community from this totally preventable misery and that speaks to the cultural issue."
The sessions continue on Wednesday morning at Good Shepherd Catholic College and Wednesday afternoon at Cloncurry State School.
READ ALSO: Event in the park for Child Protection Week
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Derek Barry
Editor of the North West Star Mount Isa since January 2016. Prior to that, an editor at several regional southern Queensland newspapers. Passionate about telling local stories. Comes with a strange accent to due an Irish accident of birth.
Editor of the North West Star Mount Isa since January 2016. Prior to that, an editor at several regional southern Queensland newspapers. Passionate about telling local stories. Comes with a strange accent to due an Irish accident of birth.
