Profile of project organiser
I come from Vila Nova Ourém, a picturesque Portuguese village situated near the castle of Ourém. In 1982 I immigrated to Australia with my family for work purposes.
My involvement in the automotive industry as the owner of a smash repair business back in the late 1980s opened my eyes to the dire need for more awareness on road safety. Witnessing countless wrecked cars through my business propelled me to act upon my growing concern about the high loss of life on WA roads, to help improve driver education and develop safe attitudes to driving.
In 2004 I officially launched the Good Attitudes to Road Safety project and today it continues to thrive, thanks to generous volunteers and others who share my passion. My fervent wish for this project, which primarily involves this website, is to reach out and positively impact the lives of Western Australian drivers.
When I’m asked what inspired me to start the Road Safety for Life organisation, my answer is simple, since I was fourteen years old, when I started to learn panel beating, and later on with my smash repair business, it was the constant stream of wrecked cars I saw at work that made me think there had to be a different approach to raising road safety awareness, and my time with the church helped me understand that everyone can make a difference.
We all have the opportunity to make the world a safer place – it’s not a cliché, every single act truly has the possibility of making someone else’s life happier.
This is a principle I try implement every day of my life. It’s also driven me to create this project and this website, because no life, especially that of a young person, should be squandered away through lack of knowledge, understanding, insight or community support.
The goal of www.roadsafetyforlife.com is simply to improve safety on our roads. It’s not here to preach, to dictate, or to put people down; it’s to say, ‘Have you considered this?’ ‘Did you know this?’ and ‘This is what happened to me, try to avoid it if you get the chance.’
It’s a project for the community by the community, and if you’d like to be involved with it in some way we would love to have you raise awareness with us. This website is currently unfunded and relies entirely on the generosity of volunteers and others who share a passion to make a difference.
Together let’s try and lessen the stream of wrecked cars and lives on our roads.
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We’ve all had close calls while driving, and most of us learn from them and improve our driving accordingly, but what if the lessons we learn can be used as reminders to more than just ourselves? What if we can share our stories, one driver to another, with no other wish than to help prepare young drivers for what may be lurking on the roads? What if one honestly told incident saved the life of a young driver, and allowed a mother, father, brother, sister and grandparents to avoid the agony of losing a loved family member? What if that story was yours?
~ Domingos (Dom) Lopes
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