Fundraiser launched for Murray Bridge woman killed in crash

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An online fundraiser has been launched to help the family of a young Murray Bridge woman who died in a road accident a fortnight ago.

Kiara Allen, or McKelliff, died in a crash on Pump Road at Mobilong on August 19, six weeks shy of her 22^nd birthday.

She had dreams of a career as a vet, and was only months away from completing a qualification that would have allowed her to start her career, according to the fundraising page set up in her name.

She was also a familiar face to customers at KFC in Murray Bridge, where she had worked for six years; and as a former participant and junior coach at the Murraylands Gymnastics Academy.

“Kiara always brought a quick sense of humour into her classes, and was an integral part of our community for many years,” the academy said in a social media post.

Friends and family are invited to remember her at a funeral service at the Minge Chapel in Murray Bridge at 2.30pm this Friday, and to wear colourful casual clothing, perhaps in her favourite white, yellow or orange.

“(Her family) will forever remember Kiara as the most fun-loving animal lover with the loudest sneeze and the most infectious laugh,” the online fundraising page said.

“Any assistance provided to family will be gratefully received with tears, hugs and nothing but pride for a beautiful girl who we must now navigate our life without.”

Murray Bridge News attempted to contact the organiser of the fundraiser but did not receive a reply.

• Make a donation: www.gofundme.com.

Ten road fatalities in three weeks prompts police plea

Ms Allen’s death was one of 10 on South Australian roads in a period of less than three weeks last month, as police warned drivers to take care behind the wheel.

SA Police figures showed 33 of the fatalities between January 1 and August 26 happened on regional roads, while 23 occurred in metropolitan Adelaide.

On August 26, Inspector Michael Turnbull told ABC Radio Adelaide the impact of fatal crashes was far-reaching.

“I think people take it for granted, when people die on the roads, it seems sort of normalised, people just accept it,” he said.

“But I don’t think it is acceptable because those people, (their) family members, friends, it’s traumatic for everyone involved, including the people who attend these scenes.

“We forget about the people who seriously injured as well, have life-changing injuries and sometimes never recover from them.”

Eleven lives were lost on the state’s roads in the month of August.

Police said while recent crashes were still being investigated, with the causes yet to be determined, they had seen a spike in dangerous and distracted driving on the roads.

Inspector Turnbull said police continued to maintain their presence on the road with the use of patrols and speed and mobile phone detection cameras.

“The focus will be on obviously regional roads, because that’s where most of these lives are lost at the moment, and (we will be) focusing on those other things like distraction and dangerous driving behaviours,” he said.

He also drew attention to drink driving after a number of recent detections around the state.

“I just think people make poor decisions and they think that it’s not going to happen to them, so they just drink to excess and get behind the wheel because they don’t want to be inconvenienced and so they just drive their cars and they don't think about the consequences,” he said.

The latest state budget allocated $110.6 million to road safety, including $46.8 million for additional cameras.

Inspector Turnbull said the locations for 15 new mobile phone detection cameras remained in the planning phase.