‘It’s not hard to stay alive’: Top cop pleads with young drivers to be safe following horror weekend on roads

Police Commissioner Col Blanch says “It’s not hard to stay alive on the roads” as he pleaded with young drivers to take more care after a horror weekend on the road.

Eight people — including three teenagers — have died in six separate crashes since Friday.

On Tuesday, a 37-year-old man was killed after his ute slammed into a tree near Bunbury.

Police Commissioner Col Blanch said cops couldn’t “sit next to every driver and tell them to do the right thing”.

“You can see a frustrated band (of officers) whose job it is to deploy a large number of police every day onto our roads to ensure the safety of West Australians,” he said.

“(WA Police acting road policing Commander Mike Peters) can’t sit next to every driver and tell them to do the right thing.

“I think it rests with the entire community to drive appropriately to your conditions.

“It’s not hard to stay alive on the roads — the fatal five are very clear, obvious things that you should partake and you will get to your destination safely and we just want that to penetrate the heads of young people.”

The “fatal five” — casual factors behind the majority of road deaths — are distractions, speed, drugs and alcohol, fatigue and seatbelts.

Mr Blanch said fatal crashes impacted all corners of the community and pleaded with young drivers to stop taking risks.

“We’ve all been young drivers and we’ve all taken risks,” he said.

“But when you see your friends and your family dying, I’ve got to talk to police officers and support police officers who go to traumatic accidents doing the most horrific jobs.

“This affects so many people; families, friends, school friends, colleagues, police officers, emergency services, and as a community, we should all be worried about this.”

On Friday, 18-year-old Seb Foufas was killed when a white Isuzu ute that he was a passenger in rolled on an off-road track in Pinjar.

The 19-year-old driver of the ute has been charged with dangerous driving causing death.

On Saturday, a 32-year-old man died after his off-road trail bike crashed in bushland in Allanson, north-west of Collie.

On Sunday morning, two teenagers riding a KTM motorcycle — aged 16 and 17 — died after colliding with a ute on North West Coastal Highway in Roebourne.

And on Sunday afternoon, three mates — Kyle Retallack, 27, Joshua Cox, 26, and Chloe Websdale, 23 — died on their way home from a camping trip when their white Nissan Patrol veered off Brookton Highway in Lesley and hit a tree.

Mr Blanch said police had a “record presence” on WA roads, but said families and communities had a responsibility to teach young adults about driving safely.

“Enforcement is up on every angle; we are having record seizures, record fines, record presence on the roads,” he said.

“It’s not just police that can attack this problem; it’s mums and dads, it’s communities, it’s talking to your kids, we’ve just got to reinforce that message over and over again.

“But I’ll tell you what, we’ll be taking cars off the road and seizing young people’s cars.”

Cdr Peters on Monday said he was “deeply concerned” by the number of fatalities on WA roads.

“It’s back to the community, to honestly, take responsibility before you get behind the wheel,” he said.

“By just doing five or 10km over the speed limit can mean the difference between someone being injured or killed and it’s as simple as that.”

Since the beginning of 2025, 40 people have died on WA roads — two more than the same time in 2024 and six more than the five-year average.