Grief bonds women in plea for track safety

The families of men who died in a truck crash have called for companies to ensure safer driving practices for trucks.

Two women bonded for life over the death of their loved ones on a West Australian road four years ago have called for safer practices for truck drivers.

Lisa Sawyer's brother and Lystra Tagliaferri's partner were hit by a truck and killed in February 2011 while changing a tyre.

Driver Paul Kershaw was sentenced to five years' jail for dangerous driving.

Mrs Sawyer said the deaths were "totally preventable".

"The driver was fatigued, we don't want this to happen to anyone else," she told AAP on Thursday at a Safety Summit in St Kilda, organised by the Transport Workers' Union.

"We are bonded for life."

The summit follows an early morning peaceful protest outside Coles' headquarters on Thursday attended by nearly 100 people.

The TWU say the trucking industry "is in crisis", with 51 truck drivers killed on Australian roads on average each year.

They called on Coles to sign up to a safety charter, but a Coles spokesman said the TWU's claims were baseless.

"Coles is a signatory to the voluntary Retail Logistics Supply Chain Code of Conduct, which sets out minimum standards of operational behaviour, and Coles ensures its suppliers and contractors are aware of and understand the code," he said in a statement.

"The TWU regularly makes baseless, inaccurate and offensive claims against Coles in an effort to increase their membership, yet fails to produce evidence to support those claims."

Protesters shut down Toorak Road for about 10 minutes as they marched to Coles' HQ.

"Driving a truck is the most dangerous job in Australia," a TWU official said in a statement on Thursday.


Share

2 min read

Published

Updated

Source: AAP


Share this with family and friends


Get SBS News daily and direct to your Inbox

Sign up now for the latest news from Australia and around the world direct to your inbox.

By subscribing, you agree to SBS’s terms of service and privacy policy including receiving email updates from SBS.

Download our apps
SBS News
SBS Audio
SBS On Demand

Listen to our podcasts
An overview of the day's top stories from SBS News
Interviews and feature reports from SBS News
Your daily ten minute finance and business news wrap with SBS Finance Editor Ricardo Gonçalves.
A daily five minute news wrap for English learners and people with disability
Get the latest with our News podcasts on your favourite podcast apps.

Watch on SBS
SBS World News

SBS World News

Take a global view with Australia's most comprehensive world news service
Watch the latest news videos from Australia and across the world