Savernake resident Ann Sloane said it was lucky her sister-in-law had a two-way radio when a woman crashed her car on the highway in 2010.

Mrs Sloane heard her sister-in-law’s calls for help on the other end of the radio at her office, and she was the only one to respond.

She called police and ambulance to the scene.

The woman survived but is now a quadriplegic.

“If she didn’t have the radio in her car, who knows what would have happened,” Mrs Sloane said.

Mrs Sloane also keeps a two-way radio in her car because of the lack of mobile coverage but said it was unacceptable in this day and age not to have better technology.

Last Thursday a meeting was held at the Savernake Hall, attended by more than 100 community members, member for Farrer Sussan Ley and Telstra Country Wide’s general manager for Riverina Murray Loretta Willaton.

More than 70 submissions were made for a phone tower to cover the black spot, which stretches about 50 kilometres from Berrigan to Corowa and is about 40 kilometres wide.

Residents also made offers to donate land where the tower could go.

Mrs Sloane, who now heads the committee for mobile phone coverage, said it was not just pivotal in the case of a car accident but also for business, giving the example of farmers who now market their own grain.

“If you miss a text message giving you the opportunity of a certain price because you don’t have your mobile, you could lose thousands of dollars, and I know guys around here who have lost many thousands of dollars because they missed that text message,” Mrs Sloane said.

“We’re prepared to lobby en masse as individuals to (Minister for Broadband, Communications and the Digital Economy) Stephen Conroy, whatever it takes.”

Editorial — page 12