Episode 6 | How Sam failed to keep his wheels on

Samantha crashed her car following three days without any sleep. Left with some minor injuries she was put into the back of an ambulance, but it is what happened next that makes her story one that forever changed her life. Rusty and Lisa are joined by previous senior constable and current Member for Berwick, Brad Battin, to discuss the impacts of fatigued driving, the need for greater education around its risks, and reflect on Samantha’s story.

Luke wasn’t the best driver. A fact that was most likely not discovered because of a loophole that resulted in him obtaining his licence while avoiding most of the testing. But that lack of training finally caught up with him when he rolled his car while driving with a passenger on a dirt road. Alongside former Supercars driver Greg Murphy, Rusty and Lisa unpack where Luke went wrong, why there is more to being a safe driver than just ‘passing the test’, and why ABS brakes are a must have for your car.

The Illustrated History of Greg Murphy

Armed with a large bank loan Angela purchased her dream car. But when a traumatic crash resulted in her writing that car off Angela found herself in $70,000 debt after deciding to drive uninsured. Tim Bennett – Insurance Expert and Finder’s lead publisher for insurance joins Rusty and Lisa to hear Angela’s story, discuss the insurance options available to young drivers, and how simple decisions can have longstanding consequences.

With more than a million registered heavy vehicle units in Australia every road user will likely come across some type of truck no matter where they are driving, but with over 80% of crashes involving trucks not the fault of the truck driver, car drivers still have a lot to learn about sharing the road with larger vehicles. In this episode, truck driver Craig shares his experiences behind the wheel, and Casuarina Smith, or @truckingwithcj as her more than 100k fans on her socials know her, joins Rusty and Lisa to share why educating drivers on the importance of respecting larger vehicles is so close to her heart.

Dinesh wasn’t driving recklessly when his crash happened and recalls being under the speed limit when his car hit a patch of something slippery in the wet weather. In this episode he recalls the terrifying moment of not being able to feel his legs and the realisation that he was paralysed. Russell White, Chief Executive Officer of the Australian Road Safety Foundation joins Rusty and Lisa to talk aquaplaning, and why the weather doesn’t need to be extreme to change how a vehicle operates.

In high school Eli was a promising sportsman with a flair for acting. Today he reminisces how much he misses sport and being able to exert himself after a car crash left him with an acquired brain injury. Speaker, writer, and podcaster Scott B Harris joins Rusty and Lisa on this episode having also suffered an acquired brain injury in a motocross crash, to unpack why making good decisions is so important, how delicate the brain is, and how split second decisions can have lifelong ramifications.

Before going to jail Zac crashed every car that he had ever owned, but it was a crash with 5 passengers while he was blind drunk and heading to out to buy more alcohol that finally led to him turning his life around. In an emotional episode, Rusty and Lisa are joined by Glenn Weir, Assistant Commissioner of the Road Policing Command with Victoria Police who shares the frightening fact that Zac’s story of impaired driving is one that is all too common.