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YASMIN Duncan’s family isn’t really expecting closure — they just hope they can spare another family the grief of losing a daughter and sister.
“There’s nothing we can really gain other than that,” Blair Duncan said yesterday, as the inquest into her sister’s death closed.
The Albury girl was 18 when she was killed in a car accident on the Hume Freeway near Tarcutta on March 5, 2010, and an inquest into the crash began in August last year.
Speaking outside Albury Coroner’s Court after proceedings yesterday, Blair, 19, and her sister Jade, 27, said it felt “surreal” for the prolonged court proceedings to be over.
“As soon as the accident happened, we all changed so much, and this (the inquest) has been part of that change,” she said.
“A bit of the weight has been lifted,” Jade said.
“All the evidence has been heard so we’re not waiting for anyone any more. We’ve had our lives on hold.”
Ms Duncan was a passenger in a Holden Torana driven by Daniel Shiels, of Table Top, who lost control of his car in wet weather, veered to the wrong side of the Hume Highway and into the path of a B-double truck.
Roadworks were being carried out by contractor Leightons on behalf of the Hume Alliance.
Yesterday, senior road safety auditor Andrew Morse finished his evidence that road safety signs along the work were, in his view, insufficient.
Solicitor for the Duncan family, Mark Cronin, said there had been a failure to reduce the speed limit from 100km/h to 80km/h, too many confusing signs and a failure to properly delineate which lanes to use.
But lawyers for Leightons, and Roads and Maritime Services, argued the signs were not contradictory and Mr Shiels could not see any hazards because he was travelling too close to the vehicle in front of him.
There has been no evidence Mr Shiels was driving dangerously or speeding, and he had previously told the court he had no memory of the accident.
Coroner Tony Murray also allowed Blair Duncan to read a statement on behalf of the family, although it was not officially tendered.
She spoke of how losing Ms Duncan had changed their lives: “I have watched my family struggle — the resentment felt every Christmas, Easter, every birthday, Mother’s Day, Father’s Day, that she is not here with us.”
“The grief that has torn us apart is only slowly putting us back together,” she read.
“I can no longer trust the government or its contractors or respect the importance of these health and safety procedures, so that we can all come home at the end of the day to our families.
“Ever since the accident there’s been a hole in our lives that just hasn’t and will never be filled. Our only hope is that we can spare another family from this on-going trauma.”
Blair and Jade said the death was something they’d always carry.
“I describe this weight as something you wear, not with pride, but as part of your life’s tapestry,” Jade said.
Mr Murray will deliver his findings in the week beginning March 18.