Eyre Hwy Road Rage Attack

Down load the flashing police lights thingy to your I phone hold on the dash turn on ,visable for miles...amazing what that does to idiot drivers.
only use in country /open road areas .

During the day udo or only at night....?

Night, highly illegal - impersonating police or emergency vehicle I guess.
A 2-3 second blast is enough to change drivers manners, you know yourself when you see flashing blue/red lights in your mirror.......oh fuck sit up straight, check speedo.........fuck how many beers did I down ????

Looks like today tonight have a segment on this incident tonight for SA viewers.

OLDMATE, make sure you watch it tonight - can see it online tmoro if youre in Croatia.

two sides to every story guys

Abc news online have a update on this incident.
All the best to you Zeph.

Yeah all the best Zeph, hope to see you shredding in the desert lineup again when I'm next over.

Hi guys,

I haven't been keeping an eye on these forums so didn't know about this thread until someone mentioned it last night. Cheers for the well wishes. Alas, I can't really enlighten you much about what happened out there more than what I've shared with the media already simply because I don't know. Most of the difficulties I've had since the incident have been a result of the absence of reason. Anderson gave different accounts of what happened during the trial all of which were discredited with forensic evidence. Since the conviction of attempted murder the judge ordered psychological assessment which allowed an ex-wife of his to give testimony. She had heard about the story from media and contacted Pt. Augusta police with a 3 page account of her story. This evidence was disallowed during the trial as it had nothing to do with the incident but since prior history is included in psychological assessment she was allowed to testify. She flew down to Adelaide and told the court about how Anderson had done similar road rage in the past, had threatened her with guns and thought himself as a mad max type character on the road.

His current wife, who was in the car at the time, has been institutionalised since the incident following serious suicide attempts which saw her in ICU for weeks. She was exempt from giving evidence in court. I wanted to know what had happened from her perspective because that I might finally know what set him off. As far as I know it was the slow driving combined with double lines and spray from the wet road. I was hesitant to post my impact statement as it's very personal and somewhat embarrassing. Sorta feel like it's part of healing to share and maybe old-croatia might see the result of road rage and learn to be tolerant towards others. So here it is, my victim impact statement.

:

I’ve never been so filled with terror. In can’t comprehend what is happening, so an inane feeling of wonderment bubbles alongside all-consuming fear. My heart races and my muscles are tweaked and tense. The fact that I am running for my life beats at my consciousness like an unwanted epiphany every few moments. Driving instinct takes over as the car screams through the highway’s flowing turns. Disbelief, dread and despair. This is what I remember when I think about the incident.

My mind refused to stop recollecting after the event. I'd try not to think about it but my mind ripped me back there constantly. After the police dropped me at accommodation I spent hours looking at TV with unfocused eyes just replaying everything in my head. Then I spent the night laying there replaying it in my head. Whenever I thought about it my heart started racing and I got panicked, even though I should have felt safe. This still happens. Things were running through my head, questions that brought more fear. I was panicked at who this person was, who would be bold enough to shoot at and chase someone at absurd speed?

I didn’t sleep for more than a couple hours and was in a pretty bewildered and bad head-space in the morning. Mum cancelled her birthday get togethers and drove up early to pick me up. She was in much the same state as me and it actually chilled me out seeing her so stressed and worried, made me rally a bit I guess. We didn’t know what to do but thought to go to medical aid because I just couldn’t relax and was constantly hyped. After really not much help and a lot of waiting at the hospital we went to a GP. The doctor was a complete stooge and after not understanding what had happened he talked about his own trauma in the middle-east. I felt like he’d sorta fobbed the incident off as trivial and given his own experience as explanation. I felt pretty isolated and couldn’t relate the experience to anything in his story or my life before. When Mum asked whether I wanted to go to Adelaide or back home I just wanted the familiar presence of the beach.

So even though it meant going halfway across the state Super-mum drove me home. The police had to impound my only car as evidence and being a broke as student, I was lucky Mum bought a car for me on the drive back. I had to drive it about a hundred k’s home and I remember the drive as being pretty surreal and spooky. We went to a local GP and she was a lot more caring. She talked a bit about trauma and shock, referred me to a counsellor and prescribed a mild sedative to help sleep. It was good to get home and sleep, though I was still constantly spinning out on what had happened.

I remember the first surf after it had happened. I felt so free and high, jubilant at life and the magic of the ocean. It was like the quick ascent of a roller-coaster and like them I inevitably swooped into depression and weird melancholy at home. The story was reported on the news and it only took a few days for everyone in town to know that it was about me. The incredibility of the story spun everyone out and I felt very isolated. People asked “So what happened? Where was it? Who was this guy? What did you do to him? Is he going to jail?” or approached me jokingly saying about Mad Max, the Wild-West or some such. Nobody had experienced anything like it so it felt like nobody really understood what I was going through.

Still, weeks after it happened I couldn’t concentrate on anything else and recollection dominated my time. I’d think about it and think about it, trying to understand. I’d wake up in terror and spend hours with a restless mind refusing to sleep. This still happens. I hardly slept more than a few hours a night and couldn’t motivate myself to study or even do housework. I just couldn’t comprehend what had happened and I constantly lead myself into a fear that I was going to be killed. I felt that whoever had shot at me was a drug-lord or gang member and I would be hunted. Who else but someone who lived an illegal life could shoot and chase people at random? Was it random? Why had they chosen me? Was the door about to crash open and gunmen be there to shoot me? My mind feverishly churned these thoughts into feelings of hopelessness, despair and nervousness. I started smoking cigarettes heavily and eating badly.

I didn’t drive on the highway any more. I bought food online and used the roadhouse for essentials. I didn’t want to leave the sanctuary of home and became recluse. Even good surf or friends camping at the beach didn’t coax me out. I found distraction in movies and on-line gaming. I’d sit at the computer for 16 hours or more, fully engaged in whatever I was doing. When I disengaged I would be haggard, critically needing water and food. Feelings of utter hopelessness and the weight of the world’s problems crushed me. Studying Environmental Science & Management is as often a discovery of toxic human flaws as it is learning the intricacies of Earth and I couldn’t take the learning anymore. I couldn’t concentrate on the study and the further I fell behind the more it made me less capable of functioning. In frail mental states I turned to self-loathing and both hated and pitied the person I was becoming.

After months of this I’d had enough of the hurt and despair, the constant weight of consciousness. In the last throws of deciding to end my life I made a desperate call to Mum. That phone call saved my life, as always her wisdom and love grounding me. I really needed help and was convinced to finally drive the highway to see the counsellor. The shrink was the first person I could open up to about what was happening in my life. I’d slipped so far down my expectations of what I wanted from myself, it was good to explain the ways in which I had to someone. The session alleviated the emergency of the situation and allowed me some perspective. I felt less sad at the loss of the study and more able to deal with the fact that I was going through trauma and it was okay to feel bad. The Doctor prescribed happy pills and diagnosed me with depression but I refused the medication after she let me know they would make me unstable if I stopped taking them before the yearlong treatment was finished.

I'd never been close to suicide before in my life. I was an outgoing and very positive person, I could talk to anyone and be comfortable in any social setting. I loved everything about the natural world and though I saw the flaws in human societies, I wanted to be an active part of change. Complete decimation of my confidence meant critical supports to my personality like pride and conviction were replaced with fear and hopelessness. The change meant I lost contact with a lot of people and just dropped off the radar for weeks at a time. Quite a few people offered help but I didn't have perspective needed to accept it.

The loss of my chance to get a degree is the probably the biggest impact that has occurred. I'd made the choice to leave the oil and gas industry and educate myself on how to participate in "the good fight". I had hoped to complete the degree and develop into an educated environmentalist, creating positive change in life. The upheaval my psyche has endured has meant I lost the ability to cope with confronting environmental data. I lost the psychological strength needed to do battle against environmental vandals and even the will to participate in the scientific learning behind it. I guess that loss hurts the most because every time I think about it I feel upset with the situation. I have changed as a person and I am not happy with those changes, I don't see any positives.

So I've been in recovery ever since the incident, pretty much. I still don’t drive the highway and I still have nightmares. I've dropped out of university and acquired a large Centrelink debt by surviving on payments though I didn't attend the uni. The trial process was confronting, especially the media coverage. I didn't expect my name and where I lived to be splashed across newspapers, websites and TV, I thought I was an anonymous victim. The professionalism of prosecution and police alleviated a lot of my anxiety and after the trial, I feel better. I guess the reaction by people that this was a huge deal is reassuring, that I can recover from it. I'm still a hermit, broke, distract myself with the computer and smoke too much. I have very little contact with people but have just started working a trade and with help from awesome people I'm starting to get out more.

Cheers,

Zeph

Far out mate. That's unbelievable. Hope some nice tubes come your way soon! You deserve them

Wow!

Welcome back man. Baby steps, small blessings and the love of your family.

Hang in there.

Zeph, youre on the road to recovery- Victims of crime compensation fund is there for people like yourself ,look into it.

Incredible Zeph.. that was very courageous to publish such personal thoughts. All the best to you with the recovery. 

Very insightful read thanks Zeph. You've got a good head on your shoulders by the sounds of it. Things will get better. Best of luck.

Zephmon, great sharing champ, big up to you.
Life's journey is like waves, it goes up and down, you just have to ride every wave as well as you can.
Sounds like your wave is going up and your shredding it ;)

Thanks for sharing Zeph, harrowing experience, and I'm glad you're starting to get back on top of things. All the best!

Yep, it's rare to find a man of your calibre;)

Too soon?

Zeph' stay strong' your story is deeply moving and your honesty courages.
Awsome that you are on the upward.
much respect mate.

Its great when someone shoots their mouth off which gives us all a good insight into this persons way of existence on our globe.

Zeph - An innocent victim, thanks for sharing your story and thoughts and hopefully this dick gets whats coming to him...

Old Mate - Your a cracker...

We are the easy going she'll be right nation. How about you fuck off home, I'm not racist nor religious but I have a low tolerance for your type. I signed up here to give you my 2 cents worth you arrogant fuckwit... I'm surprised the lads here went as easy on you as they did. We don't give a toss how tough your fucked up country is, we are who we are and you have attempted badly to join our society. In doing so how about you try the relaxed approach to life. If I'm doing 80 in the right lane that's a choice of mine as a road user with the same rights as you. The speed limit signs are exactly that 110km/perhr MAX that doesn't mean to say I cant just cruise at 80..... Why the fuck cant I? Because some Croat tool will teach me a big old life lesson?? Have you noticed that no body has agreed with anything you have put down?
Alarm bells?

With the attitude you've got I wouldn't have take you for a surfer, I would have said tanty throwing soccer faggot...

Seriously mate fuck off home.......

Good to hear that you are recovering from this harrowing time. I look forward to catching up soon. All the best mate.

Zeph, Thanks very much for sharing your very personal experience. Simply can only imagine what that whole damn thing must of been like. Your a courageous young man and I sincerley hope that your day & future days continue to get brighter & brighter!! All the best mate.

Without meaning to be flippant, I find it fascinating how such experiences - trauma, shock, abuse etc. - allow people unique perspective. Your experience included Zeph; that was an eloquent and incisive piece of writing. I guess it comes from confronting an aspect of human behaviour few people experience, and the randomness of the event also. Goes without saying most sufferers would prefer the humdrum of day-to-day living than what they've been through, but here's hoping that perspective can congeal into something you consider useful. Wisdom is, after all, healed pain.

love to you Zeph.. thank you for sharing that..yes baby steps.. you will heal, and I have faith that you can accomplish fully what your heart desires! Don't be hard on yourself re your studies.. you can always go back to it later, or another opportunity /door will open..you are a beautiful writer,poet, sensitive and wise soul, and the world is a much better place with you in it :)

“Psychopaths... people who know the differences between right and wrong, but don't give a shit."
"The Psychopath Test" by Jon Ransom is a good insight. Not many out there thank fuck but they can generate a big shitpile of chaos in the normal reality of life for unsuspecting non-psychos.... (PS in the context of this book the shooter would be regarded as a stupid psycho, not a smart one). I've worked with sociopaths before (sociopaths being on the same spectrum as psychopaths just not as far down the nut case scale), the one primary thing I learnt was don't give them anything, no info about you, personal details where you live etc. Scary fuckers.
Zeph - PTSD is a fucker but definitely something that can be overcome with the right head space and support, your honesty is not only brave and beautiful, it is cathartic and healing. Take care and let southern barrels soothe your soul.... Undies.

The court hears this psycho bloke has had previous altercations with other drivers : ABC news.

Good result here with Michael Craig Anderson found guilty of attempted murder and got 14 years jail, 8 non-parole.

http://www.adelaidenow.com.au/news/south-australia/michael-craig-anderso...

Yeah cheers Craig, heard that on the radio this morning. One more Fruitloop off the streets for a while...

Zeph we all have witnesses to our lives. You were not the first blameless victim & I hope he is watched very closely for the rest of his life because he is a textbook case projecting along a predictable trajectory through life. The key to surviving an encounter is to live the best life you want - be successful - have faith in family & surround yourself with people who uplift & support you - that day was not about you doing anything wrong - when we go shopping or to the beach - we take our phone, keys, wallet, etc. That man went everywhere armed for bear & a predatory mind & a hair trigger attitude - sharp witted & insightful enough to know how to mess with peoples heads & also confirm the deluded beliefs & rationale going on in the windmills of his mind at any given moment. It is understandable you want to understand what was going on in his mind. The fact is he had 1 hostage (his wife) & he had anyone else in his cross-hairs that day. The victim blaming is his perpetuating the control & abuse. The reality check is that he chose to behave in a way that people get hurt & there doesn't need to be a righteous correlation between reason & action. Eventually you will conclude that you didn't provoke him. Please live with faith in some level of certainty that you are safe & that time will move you towards better experiences. I hope that all who were involved in profiling him for life, will work tirelessly to ensure he is restrained & observed. We can only guarantee what we do in life. While traumatic events need due care & attention in managing the effects, we can live our lives so that we don't give it power over us. We get to choose to live productive lives & we get to walk away & choose to be happy by counting the blessings that come from trials & tribulations. I hope you choose to be successful & happy Zeph -

Thanks Zach.....good thoughts..