Jordan’s poor driving decisions killed him and four other young people. His mum wants change

Melissa McGuinness’s 18-year-old son made a poor decision that cost him his life and killed four others, but his mother said she is “doing the time”.

In 2012, Jordan, was driving 30km/h over the speed limit, under the influence of drugs and alcohol when he hit a car on the side of a Gold Coast highway that was carrying five young people.

“Their car careened up the guard rail and exploded into flames and four of those young occupants were killed,” McGuinness said.

Jordan also died at the scene of the crash.

McGuinness said when police came to her door the following morning, her heart sank.

“My knees gave way and I thought I was about to be sick, I absolutely knew at that moment that I was going to be delivered the most heinous news,” she said.

“When they told me it was almost incomprehensible to think what happened.”

Jordan was a typical young teenager, into sports and surfing, who had a close relationship with his parents.

He had moved out of home and the last time his mum saw him, she told him she loved him and advised him to drive safe.

“Towards the end, he would never leave out house without finding me, giving me a kiss and saying ‘bye mum’,” McGuinness said.

Since the crash, McGuinness has struggled.

“I don’t think I’ve ever felt normal ever since what happened. You don’t get over something like this, you don’t recover,” she said.

“For as long as I’m upright, I will grieve my son. I will never, ever get over losing him, nor will I get over what he did to those young adults. “

But McGuinness doesn’t want sympathy for her loss.

She wants road users to remember the flow-on effects of their decision-making on other people.

“I still think about those families every single day.

“I think about … what he did, the misery that he caused to so many people because of choice, because of poor choice.

“It doesn’t matter what he (Jordan) intended to do, all that matters is what he did on that night.

“Jordan did the crime and I will forever do the time”

McGuinness is one of several speakers at an Adelaide road safety awareness event for students, Street Smart High, hosted by the Royal Automobile Association of South Australia (RAA).

She also founded You Choose, a registered not-for-profit, encouraging personal reflection and accountability in Australian youth.

McGuinness hopes the young attendees at the Adelaide event will make good decisions when driving and realise they have the lives of all road users in their hands.

“When they’re out on that road, what they’re doing is protecting their mates from what they saw here today, car crashes that are completely preventable,” she said.

“This is the legacy that Jordan left for me.”

A recent survey commissioned by the RAA found 69 per cent of drivers had participated in or witnessed reckless behaviour such as drink-driving, speeding, not wearing a seatbelt or driving distracted while they were between the ages of 16-21.

A further 48 per cent said peer pressure had led to the dangerous behaviour.

During the Adelaide event, students watched a crash simulation to highlight the consequences of bad driving.

RAA senior manager Road Safety Charles Mountain said it took a split-second error in judgement for there to be lifelong consequences.

“We understand students are faced with a lot of pressures, particularly from their peers as well (to do)sometimes stupid, crazy things,” he said.

“Unfortunately, they need to understand that you just simply do some things without consequences.

“They have a duty of care to themselves, other road users and people in the car to get them safely to their destination.”