The below story may be confronting to some readers. Discretion is advised. Images are not from an actual crash.
It's one crash and one persons' decisions that led to it, but many first responders and many points of view from the people that turn up to investigate and to save lives from the carnage.
Despite the many people, their different roles at the scene and the things they are there to do, there is an unusual sense of corroboration and clarity amongst our first responders on what it's like to be on scene for a fatal or serious crash.
Shane Henderson; a paramedic for Queensland Ambulance Service is one of these people and described what it is like being exposed to many crashes throughout his career.
"For the first few jobs you go to, you're still relatively fresh and you're just cognitively focussed on the right things to do, applying your training, going through the processes and making sure that's all coming together," Shane said.
"It's when you've been to a few that it starts to become routine and it gives you space to step back and really see things going on around you.
"That's when it can hit you emotionally."
Shane talked us through what it's like, being assigned a job and having to go the scene of a serious crash.
"When it comes to responding to a scene, you get more and more information as everything unfolds," he said.
"At first, when you're on your way to the scene, you're getting more and more information from the Communications operator, trickling in from bystanders and people involved.
"When you get on scene, you start to put together what may have happened, how many people may have been involved and what sort of injuries they may have.
"It's then that we have to start thinking about what we're going to and how quickly we're going to have to do it which sometimes comes with a level of anxiety or stress.
"We're hoping that someone hasn't been fatally injured, but we have to have a plan.
"When we look at a scene, before we even get out of the car, we're thinking about what is required, where we can safely park, how we're going to get our equipment including our stretcher over to the patients safely.
"Some scenes can be quite overwhelming.
"A lot of the time, there's glass, skid marks on the road, a sense of the car being on fire after airbags have been deployed and there's all different kinds of things in the air.
"We're hearing other sirens as they start to arrive. Police, fire and emergency workers and tow trucks getting on scene; everyone arriving to do their different pieces in response to what has happened."
An impressive response to a chaotic scene, it can be easy to associate what you see in the movies with what these emergency responders are going through – Chicago Fire vibes, right?
Well Shane was quick to point out that death and impacts of crashes aren't as clear cut as they show us in the movies.
"There can be significant injuries, deformities even as a result of these crashes.
"A lot of work and effort is put into doing everything that can be done for a patient to give them the best chance of survival and really skilled clinicians work really hard to give the person the best chance of survival.
"People sometimes don't realise the the amount of people that are involved for one person or one crash – all working together to get the best outcome possible, regardless of their circumstances or their injuries."
When we asked Shane about a recent crash that has stuck with him, he said it was one he turned up to as a single responder that he could easily see being himself.
"A motorcyclist had come off his bike – he made a bad decision trying to take over someone too fast," he said.
"Riding is something I associate with fun and is something I enjoy, so seeing someone in that position because of it was hard.
"It was really confronting, on my won, being presented with someone with such severe injuries.
"Trying to task prioritise everything that needed to be done and set aside those feelings of relating to the patient with only my two hands whilst also having all those thoughts running through my head.
"That one was hard for me, especially reflecting afterwards about how quickly things could change."
Hearing these stories and recounts of what Shane faces nearly every shift, you wouldn't be blamed for wondering why he does it, but he says he's accepted it as his duty and that doing his best is all he can do.
"It's my job to be at the top of my ability and to know my skills and the procedures to help people on the worst day of their life.
"My job is to do all I can as best I can to give them the best chance of survival, and if I've done that, what more can I do?"
Not without its challenges, he said his colleagues take on a similar mentality, but not without assistance from support systems and their friends and families.
"Using every skill you can – if you can do that, then that, regardless of the outcome, you've done as much as you can.
"Sometimes that's enough and sometimes that's not enough but that's why we're in the job that we're in."
We asked Shane what confronts him most about the serious car crashes he attends.
"It can definitely be a real waste of a life.
"A lot of the time, it comes down to quickly made decisions that have really lasting consequences.
"You know everything is going to change for them, their friends and their family based on one quick, poor decision and it's a waste.
"A moment of distraction can end a lot of things for a lot of people.
"I wish people just had the foresight to know the devastating consequences their actions can have.
"We don't see drivers and passengers at the time and place where we can talk to them about that, but we do think about it."
Road safety is everyone's responsibility, but that starts with you.
