South Australia Police address 2023 road death carnage, call out selfish driving

It’s Friday night and four young friends are out together celebrating Schoolies at the beachside town of Goolwa Beach, south of Adelaide.

It should have been just another night in their long lives, but it collapsed into tragedy when one of the four, Charlie Stevens, was killed in an alleged hit-and-run crash.

Charlie was the son of South Australian Police Commissioner Grant Stevens and his death has shocked the state and cast a fierce torchlight on the gruesome spike in road deaths that have pummelled South Australia across 2023.

Charlie’s death marked the state’s 101st road fatality from 103 in total as of November 24.

In a heartbreaking letter, Mr Stevens and his wife Emma paid tribute to their son, addressing him as “101” and celebrating his life while demonstrating that behind every road toll statistic lies a full life and a human being loved by others.

“I am writing this sitting in a bedroom with dirty clothes on the floor, an unmade bed, six drinking glasses lined up on the bedside table, an empty KFC box next to the glasses, wardrobe doors left open and a row of skateboards leaning on the wall – it is a mess and it’s perfect. This is where 101 lived,” the parents write.

“101 is Charles Stevens – Charlie, Charlie Boy, Chas, Links, Steve. You lived life and gave so much to so many. You were a force of nature and we will never forget your beautiful cheeky, disarming smile.

“Son, brother, grandson, uncle, nephew, cousin, friends, workmate, teammate. So much more than just a number on a tragic tally.”

The sense of grief at the horror of a sudden tragedy striking at a beloved family who have given their lives to the services of others is washing over the country.

Federal Opposition Leader Peter Dutton has pledged to read out the Stevens’ letter in parliament to preserve it in history through the Hansard record.

“I, like everyone, you read it, you know my kids are of a similar age and it really hits home,” Mr Dutton told Melbourne’s 3AW.

South Australian Premier Peter Malinauskas said he and his wife Annabel shed tears reading the emotional letter.

“Here’s a family that is grieving, has every reason to be utterly devastated and thinking about themselves and how they get through it, yet what they’re doing is thinking of others,” he said as his voice started to break.

“Thinking about how this tragedy might translate to a lesson for everybody else in the community, not just thinking about their son but thinking about the other 100 victims who’ve been lost in the road toll.

“What marvellous people.”

What happened on Friday night?

The first details of the alleged hit-and-run emerged in court documents on Monday.

Three witnesses, who say they were waiting with Charlie on Beach Rd for a shuttle bus to take them back to Victor Harbor from Goolwa Beach, say they flagged down the accused driver, Dhirren Randhawa, 18, to see if they could hitch a ride.

There was not enough room in the car and the witnesses say Mr Randhawa drove away before making a U-turn.

He then allegedly sped up and started travelling on the wrong side of the road before hitting Charlie, court documents reveal.

There is no suggestion of animosity between the groups.

But Montana Rose Bowd, an eyewitness from inside Mr Dhirren’s car, tells a different story, according to the court documents.

Ms Bowd states some males were on the western side of the road and partially on the footpath, but there was also a male on the eastern side of the road.

She says a male from the eastern side ran across the road into Mr Randhawa’s car, according to the court documents.

She states Mr Randhawa then drove a short distance before calling his mother and asking whether he should turn himself into a police station or call the police.

As he was talking to her, the police arrived and arrested him, she said.

The facts of charge document, which recounts the eyewitness accounts, was on Monday lodged with Christies Beach Magistrates Court, where Mr Randhawa appeared for the first time in the afternoon.

His mother Amreeta Stara attended the court, sitting in the front row of the room.

She sat silently and did not say anything inside or outside the courthouse.

The court granted Mr Randhawa bail and he left the court with his mother and supporters in the late afternoon, moving through a scrum of media into a waiting car.

Charlie suffered irreversible brain damage in the smash and Mr Stevens, his wife Emma and their four other children, Sophie, Dylan, Josh and Tom, said their goodbyes to Charlie at Flinders Medical Centre alongside extended family.

Charlie died at 7.01pm on November 18.

The police have charged Mr Randhawa with causing death by dangerous driving, aggravated driving without due care, leaving the scene of a crash after causing death and failing to truly answer questions.

If he is found guilty, he faces a maximum jail term of 15 years and disqualification from holding or obtaining a driver’s licence for 10 years.

Like Charlie, there’s a story and a life behind every number.

‘If I could trade all my years left for you, I would …’

In a special feature from Wednesday, the Adelaide Advertiser paid tribute to every life lost on the roads this year.

Alex “Tucka” Henschke, 23, was the 27th person to die on the roads after his Yamaha bike crashed into four cars on Port Rd in Adelaide.

Tatiana Tenikoff, 22, became the state’s 54th fatality when her Toyota sedan veered off the road and crashed into a tree on Uley Rd, Uleybury.

And the trauma of road deaths engulfs more than just the direct victims.

When Archie Harrowfield, 17, became the 74th fatality, his brother Jamie O’Callaghan wrote on social media how “unfair” it seemed.

“If I could trade all my years left for you I would, without a blink. For one more day, one more conversation,” he said.

Paul Clark lost his entire family in a horror crash at Everard Central, about 120km north of Adelaide, on October 31.

Cynthia Clark, 84, and her daughter Jacquie, 54, were killed when a van collided with their Honda Civic at the Templeton Rd and Blyth Rd intersection on October 31.

Husband and father John Clark, 86, was in the rear of the Honda and suffered critical injuries in the crash.

Paramedics flew him to Royal Adelaide Hospital for further treatment, but he died from his injuries on November 6.

Paul was on holiday in Southeast Asia when the crash changed his life.

“I just went into a daze and shock and just started arranging flights to come back,” he told The Advertiser.

“I’m still trying to comprehend what’s happened.

“There’s a lot of shock really, just coming to terms with it.”

The Road Fatality data

The number of lives lost would soon tick up again to 103 after a 65-year-old truck driver died on the side of Hanson Rd in Adelaide’s north while fixing an apparent breakdown on Wednesday, and a 26-year-old Andrews Farm man died in a crash on the Anzac Highway on Thursday.

Year-to-date, 2023 is the worst year for road deaths since 2010, though some earlier years have recorded higher total annual figures.

For the same period in 2022, the state recorded just 61 deaths, meaning this year has recorded a 67 per cent spike in deaths.

What is happening?

In an address to media on Friday, speaking about the situation on the state’s roads generally, State Operations Service Assistant Commissioner Ian Parrott said there were a “significant number of people” who continued to drive recklessly on the roads, putting the lives of others at risk.

Between November 13 and 19, he said Operation Safe Speed had detected 1290 speeding offences.

By comparison, a four-day operation in May detected 384 offences.

“This type of attitude from people is completely unacceptable, it is extremely selfish and it is extremely dangerous,” he said.

The police attribute speeding as a factor in 28 deaths this year, while 14 are attributed to drink-driving and 15 to drug-driving.

“There is a continuing trend of people exceeding the speed limit, of people drink and drug driving. We are out there and we are catching people,” Mr Parrott said.

“There are a lot of people doing the right thing … but there are far too many people taking far too many risks.”

Mr Parrott emphasised the importance of “personal responsibility” in reducing the carnage.

“Families need to talk to each other, parents need to tell kids about the dangers on the road and you just need to hold each other accountable,” he said.

“Everybody has to play their part so that we can actually stop people killing themselves on the road.”

Mr Malinauskas said deliberate recklessness could not be “tolerated”.

“We are all guilty of it, being distracted on the roads from time to time,” the Premier told 5AA radio on Wednesday.

“You know it might be kids arguing in the back seat of the car, the temptation to look at a message on a phone.

“It’s just important to remind ourselves that when you are behind the wheel you accept responsibility, not just for yourself and the other people in the car, but everyone else around us.

“But that’s distraction; the recklessness and people speeding, and more deliberate acts, are harder to comprehend. That’s where we’ve just got to see a change in attitude in behaviour.

“Whatever the moment is, you might be frustrated, or you feel the need that you are in a rush to speed, or whatever, it is just an unacceptable risk, and it can’t be tolerated.”

Legislation

The government has introduced tougher measures to crack down on dangerous driving.

The “extreme speed” laws that came into effect in late 2022 ramp up penalties for offenders.

The legislation applies where a driver exceeds the speed limit by 55km/h or more on a road where the speed limit is 60km/h or less or exceeds the speed limit by 80km/h or more on a road where the speed limit is more than 60km/h.

“The offence is punishable by imprisonment and a minimum period of licence disqualification,” a government spokesman said.

“It outlines aggravating circumstances which would result in higher penalties. It includes a power for police to impose an immediate loss of licence at the roadside if they reasonably believe extreme speed has been committed.”

From January 1 next year, new laws will create a new offence of “causing death or serious harm by careless use of a vehicle or vessel”, lifting available penalties from a maximum 12 months imprisonment to five years imprisonment for a basic offence, seven years aggravated.

Minimum licence disqualification periods will also increase from six months to one year basic and three years aggravated.

“Notably, these are only the mandatory minimum starting points for licence disqualification, and courts will impose longer periods where appropriate,” the spokesman said.

“Our government has a zero-tolerance approach to hoon driving and has introduced tough new penalties to combat dangerous and selfish behaviour on our roads.”

Mr Parrott also confirmed that police were monitoring legislation to assess if there were any “gaps” in the laws.

“We are always considering legislation,” he said.

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