Car crash victim’s warning as new campaign launched [Video]

A new advertising blitz aims to crack down on speeding in Western Australia, in an attempt to stamp out excuses when behind the wheel.

Speed Shatters Your Excuses is the latest campaign exploring the reasons people use to justify speeding.

For Michael Francis, one night in a friend’s car changed his life forever.

He was five minutes from home in 1992 when his friend, a 17-year-old driver, hit a tree.

“He was actually told to slow down by two people in that vehicle and unfortunately that didn’t happen, and the consequences, we hit a tree head on over 100km/h in a 60km/h zone,” Francis said.

More than 30 years later, he uses a wheelchair and still suffers chronic pain.

One of the other passengers in the car lost the use of their arm, another their leg and the third needed a full facial reconstruction.

“Its just …