Driving Lesson 
2003 Reader Submission
Pending Acceptance
other tells of son's ill-fated drive
By Catherine Best
Friday, 15 August 2003
THE MOTHER of the 11-year-old child at the centre of Tuesday's fatal accident at Bonshaw has sought to set the record straight on why her son was in the driver's seat.
In an exclusive interview, the single mother of three told The Courier the incident was "just one of those things that went horribly wrong."
Sitting in the sanctuary of a friend's lounge room to avoid the "media circus," the Delacombe mum choked back tears as she recounted the events leading up to the tragedy that killed 42-year-old Ballarat man Murray Dance.
The events that follow are told by the boy's mother, partially through the eyes of her son.
It was 10.45pm on Tuesday, the woman, who The Courier will call Joanne, was at home waiting for Mr Dance and her son to arrive. Mr Dance was a good family friend and had been baby-sitting the 11-year-old while Joanne was at the hospital with her six-year-old asthmatic son.
"He rang me and said `I'm bringing the boy home, I'm (at a house) two streets away now'," Joanne said.
"I waited and I waited but he never came and (then) the police came.
"I was pacing up and down because I knew something was wrong."
By this time Mr Dance's V8 Commodore was lying upside down, partially submerged in Winter Creek. Joanne's son was in the hospital with minor scratches, hypothermia and water on the lungs. Mr Dance was dead.
Less than an hour earlier, the boy and Mr Dance had been at Mr Dance's mate's house only a few streets from Joanne's Delacombe home.
They left the house in Mr Dance's car, presumably to take the boy, who The Courier will call Fraser, home. Nobody knows exactly how far they had travelled, but at some stage Mr Dance took a detour onto the Sebastopol-Smythesdale Rd and started heading for Smythesdale.
He pulled over and made the 11-year-old a proposition that would cost Mr Dance his life.
"He turned around to Fraser and said `come on I'll give you a driving lesson' - what kind of an 11-year-old is going to say no to that," Joanne said.
"I don't know what possessed him to do it - wet roads and knowing I'd be totally against it, but I'm not blaming him or Fraser, it's just an accident."
Joanne said the car came towards what Fraser described as a fork in the road.
"He (Fraser) went to go one way, Murray said `what are you doing' (and) grabbed the steering wheel. Fraser hit the brakes - that's when it lost control."
Fraser hit his head on impact but managed to regain his faculties as water started flooding into the cabin. Soon the front inside of the car was completely submerged.
"It was so dark and so black, he couldn't see anything," Joanne said.
Fraser tugged at Mr Dance, but he didn't respond so he part swam, part wriggled into the back seat and kicked his way to freedom through a back door.
"He started to panic and started to feel dizzy and he kicked his way out because he said he wanted to see me again," Joanne said.
"He swam around to the side (of the car) and he tried to get Murray out but he couldn't open the door."
Sodden, panicked and injured, Fraser pulled himself from the freezing water and ran to the road, frantically waving his arms around to raise the alarm. Several cars passed before he managed to flag someone down.
Within minutes the area was "lit up like Luna Park," according to one tow truck driver's description. Police officers, paramedics and tow truck drivers covered the scene, but none of them could save Mr Dance. He had already been dead for several minutes. Fire offices confirmed
the man was deceased, but it would be several hours before his body was retrieved from the vehicle.
Joanne said the authorities initially thought the accident was a kid's joyride gone wrong, before Fraser convinced them there was an adult trapped in the submerged car.
It is a horrific story and one that Fraser will have to relive in coming days when police question him over the incident. For now the child is tucked out of the public spotlight in the care of relatives.
The incident is still raw in the 11-year-old's mind, although his mother said he didn't quite understand the enormity of what happened.
"It's just a miracle that he got out of that car," she said.
"He's too scared to get in a car now, he's afraid of the dark (and) he won't go over a bridge."
Joanne believes it was "inner strength" that got Fraser out of the car.
And that's what he'll need if he is to recover from the torment of the accident.
In the meantime, Fraser and his family are grieving the loss of a good friend. Joanne had developed a strong friendship with Mr Dance after carrying out some work at the car dealership where he worked.
Fraser and the family have already started counselling and have a strong network of friends and family for support.
urray Dance leaves behind two young girls, under the age of 10.
"My heart just breaks for them and it breaks for Linda (his wife)," Joanne said.
"I sort of feel responsible because it was my son, but it was an accident."
The Courier has chosen not to identify the mother and the 11-year-old boy.
Submitted on 08/14/2003
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Reference:
The Courier 15 Aug 03
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