A split second, a young life taken, a community changed and four brothers torn asunder. Aidan Young speaks frankly about the death of his brother Darcy.
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Screeching metal pierced the deep silence of night in Lavington.
It was just an ordinary day.
A trip home from the gym on suburban streets.
Darcy Young wasn’t on the phone, he wasn’t drunk or on drugs.
Like many of us, the 17-year-old was tired, possibly distracted, going a few kilometres over the speed limit on a road he’d driven many times before.
Nothing we all haven’t done.
On April 2, 2017, Darcy’s car crashed into a tree and caught alight at the intersection of Barlow Street and Douglas Road.
It could have been anyone.
“That’s all it took,” his brother Aidan says.
“Darcy had a bright future.
“He was always up for a laugh or a good time and he always put others first.”
Growing up, it was always the four brothers, Bailey, Aidan, Casey ‘Fudge’ and Darcy.
A brotherly tribe.
An unstoppable force, now divided.
Since Darcy’s death life has changed “dramatically” for Aidan, 19 and his family.
“We were more like four mates than brothers,” he says.
“Losing your best friend, it impacts you every day.
“We’d always play two-on-two in backyard rugby, Darcy and I against the other two.”
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Darcy was a month shy of his 18th birthday when he died.
His family should have been preparing for a big birthday bash.
Instead they were mourning a son and a brother, who never got the chance to grow old.
“It’s been hard for all of us,” Aidan says.
“You try to get on with day-to-day life but little things always remind us of him.
“It just takes a second and you think ‘Oh crap, I wish he was still here’.
“It’s been rough.”
Aidan studies in Bendigo and was on a university trip at the time of the crash.
He still struggles with the idea that if he was home, he might have been able to prevent the death of his brother.
“I found out when I got back into an area with reception,” he says.
“I was three hours away.
“Maybe if I was in Albury things could have been different.”
Darcy was full of potential; he’d planned to attend university next year for sports management.
He was a familiar face behind the counter at Albury’s Sushi Train and was pursing his sports passion through a job at NRL development.
“He did well in school,” Aidan says.
“No one ever had anything bad to say about him, he was always a person people wanted to hang out with and spend time with.
“Darcy was loved so much by everyone around him.”
Since his brother’s death, Aidan has been vocal in the Knock-on Effect campaign.
“I don’t want another family, another person’s teammates or mates to have to go through what we have as a family,” he says
“It doesn’t take much, a simple error can change not only your life but the lives of everyone around you.
“You never know what is going to be around the corner.
“A split second – that’s all it takes.”
This is the first of a three-part #SurviveTheDrive series, which continues on next week with Darcy’s club Albury Thunder.