The below story may be confronting to some readers. Discretion is advised. Images are not from a real crash.
Sergeant Stacey Bach from the Forensic Crash Unit isn't someone you want to come across while she's at work. When she is called to attend to a job, it is never a good news story.
But her work is critical to ensuring the improvement in both road and vehicle safety, as she examines the circumstances around serious crashes.
Sergeant Bach usually arrives at a crash after the casualties have been extracted by Queensland Fire and Emergency Services, and after Queensland Ambulance Service has whisked them away.
The aftermath of a car crash can be a confronting scene, sometimes resembling a horror movie.
"You can prepare yourself as much as you think you can, but when you go to the scene and actually see what the human body can go through… it feels unrealistic," Sergeant Bach recalled.
"It's impossible to put into words the trauma the human body can go through. It's quite confronting."
Those involved in serious traffic incidents that Sergeant Bach comes across tend to not look like their photos, with subtle but unmistakable differences in their appearance as their condition worsens.
"Their colour has changed, even their hair has changed. Their whole look is entirely different," she said.
Joining the Forensic Crash Unit in 2006, Sergeant Bach still vividly remembers her first call out to a violent workplace incident involving a heavy vehicle.
Throughout her 15 years of experience in forensics, Sergeant Bach has seen great advancements in vehicle technology and safety equipment, however the one thing that hasn't changed is human behaviour.
"Everyone has free reign to drive a vehicle once they have passed their practical driving test," she said.
"What road users don't realise is their vehicle can be a weapon if they don't follow road rules. Roads rules are there for a reason."
Crashes that stick in Sergeant Bach's mind all have one thing in common: a life wasted due to poor decisions.
"Certain jobs stay with me because they were so avoidable, complete senselessness.
"Someone undertaking another offence while driving has had total disregard for anyone else but themselves.
"Whether they didn't stop at red light, were speeding, using their mobile phone… That momentary lapse of attention could have catastrophic consequences."
With each case comes interactions with an entirely new group of people including witnesses as well as family and friends of fatalities. Some interactions are harder than others, with everyone showing their grief in different ways.
Sergeant Bach reflects on how social media has changed the landscape for those left who have lost a loved one in a traffic crash.
"I see the comments on social media after the reporting of a crash and I can only imagine how traumatic it is for family and friends of those involved in devasting circumstances," she said.
"I always ask loved ones to please not read the comments online. Sometimes these "armchair investigators" can hypothesise what they think were the circumstances surrounding an incident and entirely miss the mark.
"Our role is to help families find closure, to find out exactly what happened in the lead up their loved ones' death. To avoid confusion, I always ask family and friends to please come to me to ask questions.
"We are here to find the truth so that there can be closure.
The common thought appears to be that serious crashes are things that happen to other people, when in reality, most people who are killed or seriously injured are just making small bad decisions that end in disaster.
"It's hard to comprehend that those involved in an incident were doing something as run-of-the-mill as travelling to their workplace and somehow have ended up in this absolutely devastating circumstance," Sergeant Bach said.
"People tend to think it won't happen to them, but we see every day that it does happen to ordinary people doing ordinary things."
To avoid having Sergeant Bach attend your crash, avoid the Fatal Five (speeding, fatigue, drink/drug driving, distractions and not wearing your seatbelt) and make better choices behind the wheel.
Road safety is everyone's responsibility, but that starts with you.
