Raina and her best friend were 17 and about to finish school when tragedy struck

Raina still struggles to drive. Having lost her father and then her best friend to traffic accidents, she knows better than anyone just how dangerous our roads can be.

"I had such a special connection with my dad," Raina, 25, told nine.com.au ahead of Fatality Free Friday on May 29.

"He was the parent at school pick-up, at our events, there whenever we needed him.

"And I still say to this day, regardless of whether he's here or not, I'm very much a dad's girl." 

The family had settled in Rockhampton in regional Queensland, where her parents ran the local post office. Raina was six when he died, and her mum was left to break the news to her.

"I remember waking up in the early hours of the morning, confused about why my mum suddenly wasn't home," she said.

"My sister and I had been dropped at a friend's house the night before because Mum had rushed to Gladstone after receiving a phone call from Dad's riding partner. He had said, 'Hey… something's happened to Steve.'

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"I remember the atmosphere feeling strange before anyone had even explained what was going on, then Mum came in. She was crying so hard she could barely speak.

"I remember being abruptly woken up by the sound of her tears and this overwhelming feeling that something was very wrong. 

"She looked at us and said, 'Dad isn't coming home. He's passed away.'"

Her dad had died at approximately 8pm while out on his motorbike, when attempting to overtake another vehicle.

Raina eventually found her feet, with the support of her family and friends, before tragedy struck yet again.

Her best friend Oliva was killed in a traffic accident when they were both 17 and just months away from finishing high school.

"It was the school holidays and we were about to go into our last term. We were getting ready to graduate. She already had her end-of-year outfit organised. We were talking about the future. We were getting ready to go out into the world."

Olivia had been travelling home from a family reunion with her parents, Alan and Bev Harwood, when the crash happened. A truck failed to see a ute that had stopped to turn, forcing it into the Harwoods' vehicle.

"Olivia died at the scene. Bev was taken to hospital in a critical condition and died six days later," Raina said.

"I got a message saying, 'I think Olivia Harwood has died.' At first, I honestly thought it was a rumour.

"I remember this deep sinking feeling, like everything just stopped.

"We had this whole life ahead of us, all this opportunity, and it made me realise how quickly everything can change. It can be taken away like that."

The fear stayed with Raina long after the crash.

"I met my partner very early in the next year. He lived in Gladstone, and I think that's when it all started to kick in," she recalled.

"I couldn't drive well to see him. I was having panic attacks. He was having to follow me from Rockhampton to Gladstone. 

"If a truck came my way, I would just have a panic attack and I'd have to pull over. When you're living in rural Queensland, you're surrounded by highway. You can't avoid that risk."

Raina is sharing her story ahead of Fatality Free Friday on May 26, urging drivers to think more deeply about the choices they make behind the wheel and the impact those decisions can have on others.

"Losing both my dad and my best friend is a pain I still carry every single day. The grief has shaped my life in such a drastic way. You constantly think about the conversations you don't get to have, the milestones they don't get to be part of.

"You also constantly wonder about the versions of life that never got the chance to happen. There's major grief with that one too. 

"I miss my dad deeply. I miss Olivia deeply. And I think that's why I speak about this the way I do, because behind every road statistic is a person. People whose lives are permanently changed by a single moment or decision.

"It's not just you. It's all of us together. You can be the difference between getting home to the people you love, and people getting home to the people they love.

"That's the responsibility I keep coming back to. The responsibility that sits between how we feel in a moment and how we choose to act on it."

Fatality Free Friday is on May 29. Visit 'Join the Journey' to become a road safety champion today.

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