A heartbroken Queensland mother is pleading with authorities to slash the speed limit on the stretch of Old Cleveland Rd that claimed the life of her only child.<\/p>\n
Kelly Hatherly\u2019s son, Jett Baker, was travelling home as a passenger in a work ute when his friend was forced to suddenly slam on the brakes as a six-vehicle crash began to unfold along the road in Chandler in July last year. <\/p>\n
In an attempt to avoid the unfolding chaos, the work vehicle swerved but ploughed directly into a parked garbage truck and Jett, 20, died on impact. <\/p>\n
Janina Malone, a 70-year-old X-ray assistant, has since been charged with dangerous driving causing the death of Mr Baker. <\/p>\n
Malone\u2019s matter was committed to the Brisbane District Court in March, with a formal indictment set after the Sunday Mail contacted the Department of Justice.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey were in the front truck and his work crew were travelling behind,\u201d said Ms Hatherly. <\/p>\n
\u201cThey jumped out of a moving truck to get to Jett. One of his friends stayed with him until emergency services came. <\/p>\n
\u201cHis father, Wayne, called me as soon as he got there and told me that he had died and he was gone. It was shattering.\u201d <\/p>\n
Ms Hatherly, who said she waited months for answers, returned to the scene of the crash wearing her son\u2019s senior jersey.<\/p>\n
She called for \u201cjustice\u201d for her son, who she said was an innocent passenger in a car. <\/p>\n
\u201cHe went to work that day, he was a passenger in car, he did nothing wrong,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
\u201cSomeone needs to be held accountable for their actions. <\/p>\n
\u201cThis has impacted so many lives.\u201d <\/p>\n
Ms Hatherly is pleading for the speed limit on that stretch of Old Cleveland Rd to be slashed \u201cto at least 60\u201d to protect other families from enduring the same heartbreak.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere are buses and trucks that go along that road, and then it just ends into nothing,\u201d she said. <\/p>\n
\u201cIf the road isn\u2019t going to be upgraded, where the garbage truck can pull off safely, the speed needs to be changed.\u201d <\/p>\n
Last year, 308 people lost their lives on Queensland\u2019s roads, the state\u2019s highest annual road toll in 16 years.<\/p>\n
Recently, the state government moved to introduce tougher penalties for motorists found guilty of driving dangerously causing death or grievous bodily harm, including facing life in prison. Two new bills were introduced to parliament by Attorney-General Deb Frecklington and Transport Minister Brent Mickelberg, with changes expected to come into effect as early as December once passed.<\/p>\n
But Ms Hatherly said she wanted the strict new penalties to be fast-tracked.<\/p>\n
\u201cI enrolled Jett in a defensive driving course to make sure he was safe on the road, and everybody else was safe,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
\u201cI feel as a parent we did everything right, we raised a really good kid. <\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019ll never be a grandmother.<\/p>\n
\u201cEvery time he would come home he would give me a big hug, my god he would stink, but I would just take that because I loved him so much.<\/p>\n
\u201cI had PCOS so getting pregnant with Jett was amazing.\u201d <\/p>\n
Ms Hatherly contacted TMR following the death of her son and the department said it would \u201cadd this speed zone to our next financial year program of works\u201d.<\/p>\n
A department spokesman has since confirmed Old Cleveland Rd will be included in the limit review program and officers will assess the location and install additional guidance signs to \u201cenhance driver awareness\u201d where required. <\/p>\n
Malone is due to appear in Brisbane District Court on Monday.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A heartbroken Queensland mother is pleading with authorities to slash the speed limit on the stretch of Old…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":53311,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[43151,36655,43163,43099,43120,43104,43165,43157,43096,9799,43146,43095,43122,43088,38106,43132,43121,43090,43111,43159,43133,43137,43092,43130,43124,43162,43140,43164,43168,43139,36644,43125,43119,43100,99,43105,43144,1044,43138,43152,1109,13146,2717,43134,43089,43167,43148,1612,43166,41439,2028,43117,37396,38098,43142,43094,43126,52,22043,43098,43106,43110,38590,3198,43107,38447,3430,43150,36888,37045,39122,18324,43158,43093,22672,43143,25531,43153,43102,43136,3218,43103,8851,212,43147,36658,43115,43145,43113,43118,41672,39868,39084,43109,43112,43135,43155,37252,43114,43131,43156,37168,43141,43149,37964,40686,43097,43129,43154,43116,43161,43127,43123,43160,43108,39491,43091,43087,8962,43128,43101,27453],"class_list":["post-53310","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-brisbane","tag-a-department-spokesman","tag-s-anguish","tag-s-highest-annual-road-toll","tag-s-matter","tag-s-plea","tag-s-roads","tag-s-senior-jersey-she","tag-s-son","tag-43096","tag-9799","tag-308-people","tag-a-70-year-old","tag-a-70-year-old-x-ray-assistant","tag-a-big-hug","tag-a-car","tag-a-defensive-driving-course","tag-a-formal-indictment","tag-a-grandmother","tag-a-heartbroken-queensland-mother","tag-a-moving-truck","tag-a-parent","tag-a-parked-garbage-truck","tag-a-passenger","tag-a-plea","tag-a-really-good-kid","tag-a-six-vehicle-crash","tag-a-work-ute","tag-additional-guidance-signs","tag-an-attempt","tag-an-innocent-passenger","tag-answers","tag-at-least-60","tag-attorney-general-deb-frecklington","tag-authorities","tag-brisbane","tag-brisbane-district-court","tag-buses-and-trucks","tag-car","tag-chandler","tag-chandler-six-vehicle-crash-driver","tag-court","tag-dangerous-driving","tag-death","tag-death-or-grievous-bodily-harm","tag-december","tag-driver-awareness","tag-effect","tag-emergency-services","tag-every-time","tag-everybody-else","tag-fatal-crash","tag-her-only-child","tag-her-son","tag-his-father","tag-his-friend","tag-his-friends","tag-his-work-crew","tag-home","tag-impact","tag-janina-malone","tag-jett","tag-jett-baker","tag-july","tag-justice","tag-kelly-hatherly","tag-last-year","tag-life","tag-malone","tag-march","tag-monday","tag-months","tag-motorists","tag-mr-baker","tag-ms-hatherly","tag-mum","tag-my-god","tag-officers","tag-old-cleveland-rd","tag-other-families","tag-our-next-financial-year-program","tag-parliament","tag-pcos","tag-prison","tag-queensland","tag-so-many-lives","tag-that-day","tag-that-road","tag-that-stretch","tag-the-brakes","tag-the-brisbane-district-court","tag-the-crash","tag-the-death","tag-the-department","tag-the-front-truck","tag-the-garbage-truck","tag-the-life","tag-the-limit-review-program","tag-the-location","tag-the-mother","tag-the-road","tag-the-same-heartbreak","tag-the-scene","tag-the-speed","tag-the-speed-limit","tag-the-state","tag-the-state-government","tag-the-stretch","tag-the-strict-new-penalties","tag-the-sunday-mail","tag-the-unfolding-chaos","tag-the-work-vehicle","tag-the-young-crash-victim","tag-their-actions","tag-their-lives","tag-this-speed-zone","tag-tmr","tag-tougher-penalties","tag-transport-minister-brent-mickelberg","tag-trial","tag-two-new-bills","tag-wayne","tag-works"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/53310","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=53310"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/53310\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/53311"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=53310"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=53310"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=53310"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}