Life cut short

THINGS will never be the same for the Charter family of Harcourt.Six months ago they lost their son and brother, Leigh, in a horrific car smash at Seaspray in East Gippsland.Leigh, 20, was killed after he and his brother were thrown from the back seat of a car when it hit a power pole on January 3.comThe family’s emotional wounds weep with every reminder of how those moments can change a lifetime.Last week the driver of the car, a 21-year-old Harcourt North man, was charged with culpable driving, including charges relating to speeding and drink driving.The family’s deep sense of loss reads like a script for a Traffic Accident Commission advertisement.The Charters are the first to admit it is not until a fatality strikes home that the TAC and police messages about safe driving take on real meaning.Leigh Charter Sr will allow the judicial process to take its course on issues of blame.Above all, he hopes the tragedy of his son’s death is a warning to others.‘‘If I can just make one person think again, make a difference to one life, then it’s worthwhile,’’ he said.He would also like to see a change in attitude among those young drivers who consider dangerous driving as ‘‘cool’’.Mr Charter believes a community-backed scheme that rewarded good driving behaviour could make a difference.Members of the Charter family have all suffered in the wake of the smash. ’‘We had, what you might say, the perfect family and it was just torn from us.’’ Mr Charter said.’‘ I had just spoken to Leigh and I told him, 'you enjoy yourself mate, you’ve worked hard and you’ve earned it’,’’ Mr Charter recalls of his last words to his son. ‘‘Then 10 minutes later, his brother, Billy, phoned. He was hysterical saying: ‘‘get down here - there’s been a crash’.’’ Mr Charter and his wife, Vicki, made the journey no parent ever wants to make - a four-hour drive to Sale Hospital not knowing their son’s fate and fearing the worst.Then came the shocking reality of identifying the bloodied body of their son. ‘‘That is something no father should have to do. No parent should ever have to ID their own child,’’ Mr Charter said.Mrs Charter said it was like joining a terrible club of the grief-stricken.com where only by becoming a grief stricken member can you fully understand what it is like.‘‘I know everyone thinks it’s never going to happen to me,’’ she said.‘‘They just don’t realise what they can do - driving a car isn’t a right, it’s not a toy. It’s the same as a loaded gun.’’ Billy, 18, who was also thrown from the car, sustained only minor physical injuries. But, he said he had been mentally scarred for life.He agreed safe driving messages are not getting through to most young drivers. ‘‘They see the ads, but they don’t pay much attention because they don’t realise how easily it can happen. When it happens, that’s when you know they’re spot on the money,’’ he said.Mrs Charter said the loss of her eldest son had left her once happy family devastated and considering a new life interstate.‘‘We still get mail for him. You go to the mailbox and there it is. It just breaks your heart every day,’’ she said.Mother’s Day, birthdays and other close family occasions highlight Leigh’s absence, she said. ‘‘For Leigh there will be no wedding and no 21st, which he was planning.’’ Father’s Day will be tough for Mr Charter with a planned outing to a hot rod rally now cancelled.‘‘What better way to build a bond between a father and son,’’ he said.Mr Charter said Leigh was a diligent worker and responsible with money, having bought an investment property on his wage as an apprentice panel beater.com, giving an excellent foundation on which to continue to build upon.Tingay’s Smash Repair owner Chris Soldatos spoke glowingly of the potential of his young apprentice.‘‘He only had a few days to finish his apprenticeship,’’ Mr Soldatos said.‘‘Everything he did he did well. He was the best worker and like a son to me.’’‘‘I still feel the same as the day it happened - it’s like you’ve got a big hole in your guts.’’