The road safety TV commercial being filmed in a carpark on Old Great Northern Highway in Midland.
Camera IconThe road safety TV commercial being filmed in a carpark on Old Great Northern Highway in Midland. Credit: Supplied/David Baylis        d455917

Swan Mayor Mick Wainwright drives the message home about road safety

Justin BianchiniHills Avon Valley Gazette

HE came across it by accident.

And like others that recent day in Midland, Mick Wainwright wondered what all the commotion was about.

The mayor of the City of Swan soon learned it was the filming of a State Government road safety commercial in a carpark near his office.

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The former army career man is known for his passion for road safety. But from where did it stem?

“My first introduction to this was when my stepsister was killed in a crash in 1972 on December 23,” Cr Wainwright said.

“So that’s going back a fair while and also while I was in the army I had probably around 12 guys I was mates with or knew of |who were killed in crashes.

“So it is something that is close to my heart.”

Cr Wainwright had not long joined the army when his sister Vera died in a crash just out of Williams on Albany Highway.

In fact, it happened on the same day he came back on leave.

It gives poignancy to his message: “Road safety is every driver’s responsibility.”

Swan Mayor Mick Wainwright’s passionate about road safety. David Baylis
Camera IconSwan Mayor Mick Wainwright’s passionate about road safety. David Baylis Credit: Supplied/Supplied

“It is not for someone to come out and say to you ‘this is what you should do’. It is something you should know,” he said.

“You should be conscious no matter what you do on the road, it’s not just you that you could injure, it is someone else as well.

“So you’ve got to be responsible for what your actions are.”