April 1971: Police plead for safety

In April 1971, First Constable Eric Montgomery pleaded to readers of The Shepparton News to stay safe on the roads. More than 40 years later, the headlines remain the same.

Eric Montgomery stopped reading, looked up and with a hint of resignation said: “The headlines are still the same today”.

The 74-year-old grandfather of 18, whose experiences as a highway patrolman convinced him of the need for driver education, was looking at a copy of The News from April 1971.

He appeared saddened that headlines of more than 40 years ago continue to echo in today’s newspapers.

Eric’s experiences policing our highways clearly illustrated that motorists needed educating in the broad skills of using our roads.

Picking up the pieces from road collisions, telling families a member had died in a collision, and watching people die - including one in his arms - drove him to create a place at which people could learn road craft.

Fortune fell Eric’s way, or indirectly to thousands of motorists who benefited from what he did, when he had a chance meeting with the then Member for Shepparton, the late Peter Ross-Edwards.

Eric talked about what he had in mind and instantly Mr Ross-Edwards was a disciple and it was the former parliamentarian who helped open many doors.

Eric joined the police force in 1958, took a posting in Shepparton in 1962 and by the 70s was already actively agitating for some education of drivers.

He arranged the screening of “Mechanized Death”, a film that illustrated the dangers of motor cars, and then followed that with a film about drug use.

The idea of a driver training facility was promoted with various Shepparton clubs from about 1971 and from the acorn of an idea came Goulburn Valley Driver Training Complex, which was ultimately to become Driver Education Centre of Australia (DECA).

Eric, who had heart surgery in 2000, will, after two-years of caravanning around Australia, settle at Bargara on the coast, just east of Bundaberg in Queensland.

Eric Montgomery looks at old road safety articles in The Shepparton News