These two ladies know what it’s like to get that knock on your front door.
They know what it’s like to be told that a loved one has lost their life in a car accident; they understand the grieving process and they’ve also become very familiar with the court system.
Margaret Markovic’s son Daniel lost his life in 2004 when his stationary car was struck by the car of a drunk driver at the corner of Kings Way and Stuart Street. Daniel was 22.
“He [the driver] was taken to hospital while Daniel was taken to the morgue,” Ms Markovic said.
In 2011, Lynette Flowers’ husband, David, was sitting in his car at a roundabout in Laverton North when another driver’s car slammed into him.
“From my experience, people find it difficult to talk to you because you’ve lost somebody,” Ms Flowers said.
Now, the two women spend their time helping other families navigate their way through police investigations and the justice system.
The pair are the president and secretary, respectively, of Road Trauma Families Victoria, a not-for-profit organisation made up of parents and partners who have lost a loved one through a car accident.
The group offers peer support and assists families with information they might need to navigate through police and legal processes.
Road Trauma Families Victoria will be hosting a grief and loss forum to be chaired by Michael Carr-Gregg and Viv McWaters at the Wyndham Civic Centre on December 1.
Ms Markovic said that, in particular, the forum would address the loss of the seven young people who died on Wyndham roads between last December and March this year.
She said many parents were at a loss to help their children cope with the grief.
“The ripple effect now is known to be 1000 people per one death; that’s an awful lot of our community being affected by the deaths of these young people.”
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