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Speaker 1: Broadcasting from the Entertainment Center where the RAA Street Smart

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Speaker 1: High program is on over three days. Today is day two.

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Speaker 1: We've been talking with the RAA with SAPOL, with Melissa McGinnis,

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Speaker 1: whose son tragically died and caused the death of four

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Speaker 1: other people in a crash as well. That's a tough one,

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Speaker 1: isn't it. Can imagine the absolute horror of living with

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Speaker 1: that as a parent, of losing your son and knowing

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Speaker 1: he has killed four others. But Melissa speaking to kids

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Speaker 1: at the moment, in fact, inside on the important messaging

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Speaker 1: about not drink driving, not driving with drugs in the system.

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Speaker 1: There's so much important information that young teenagers, young adults

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Speaker 1: are picking up here today and hopefully it's a message

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Speaker 1: they carry with them for the rest of their life.

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Speaker 1: Let's meet Eli Mern. Eli's a crash survivor who lives

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Speaker 1: with a brain injury and speaks here at Street Smart

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Speaker 1: High every year. Eli, good morning to You're welcome, Thank

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Speaker 1: you great to have you here. Tell us about yourself.

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Speaker 1: What happened.

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Speaker 2: I was twenty four years old and I was taking

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Speaker 2: some serious risks on the road, on a windy road

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Speaker 2: in the hills Adelaide hills and I came. I was

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Speaker 2: going through a right hand corner. I was going too fast,

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Speaker 2: I was showing off. I haven't got friend at the

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Speaker 2: time with me in the car, and yeah, I lost control,

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Speaker 2: left the road, hit two very solid pine trees. Well,

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Speaker 2: and I was lucky that the RSL had a meeting

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Speaker 2: that night across the road, and so they called an

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Speaker 2: ambulance and I went to Flinder's Medical Center, were off

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Speaker 2: for save and was given initially five percent chancesur brival.

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Speaker 2: I was in intensive care for fortnite and in high

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Speaker 2: care the High Care Ward for another six weeks. Then

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Speaker 2: I went to Hampstead rehabited there for nine months, where

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Speaker 2: I learned to walk, talk, show, shave, dress, eat, think, concentrate,

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Speaker 2: basically everything the person has to do just live. It's

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Speaker 2: like a six six newborn.

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Speaker 1: Yeah you are tall, no doubt. I didn't notice you

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Speaker 1: walk over, so obviously there were lasting effects of that.

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Speaker 1: You can't walk properly.

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Speaker 2: I still have some movie that issues, I'm sure and

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Speaker 2: will do for the rest of your life. Basically, it's

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Speaker 2: now there's no quote unquote finished in rehab. I just

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Speaker 2: do the best you can with what I've got.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, well, what a what a life changing night. Did

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Speaker 1: your girlfriend survive the crush?

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Speaker 2: She did survive. Yeah, she came with it to the

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Speaker 2: hospital and my mum dropped her home and.

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Speaker 1: Her funny about that. Yeah, So okay, the message that

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Speaker 1: you'll be sharing, what is it? What do you tell

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Speaker 1: the kids inside?

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Speaker 2: I basically recite my story many of the as I

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Speaker 2: just spoke to you then, Yeah, hopefully hoping that they

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Speaker 2: can see ways to avoid getting samsor or something.

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Speaker 1: Tell us about your time in rehab. You must have

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Speaker 1: been sitting there thinking what the heck have I done

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Speaker 1: to myself the whole time?

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Speaker 2: Yeah. I was confused and angry for a long time,

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Speaker 2: initially because I couldn't figure out why I couldn't just

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Speaker 2: go home, or if I did just go home, I

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Speaker 2: wouldn't have been able to walk, probably look after myself anything.

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Speaker 2: I would just lying in a bed. There was no

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Speaker 2: way I could just go home. But I didn't understand

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Speaker 2: that for a long time.

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Speaker 1: What about your occupation were you working at the time

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Speaker 1: twenty five? You probably were.

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Speaker 2: I had been working full time in many different sources

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Speaker 2: of income generation for a long time. The period that

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Speaker 2: I was in I had actually I hadn't been working

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Speaker 2: for about two weeks, and that day I had got

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Speaker 2: notification from the university I'd going back for adult reentry tests.

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Speaker 2: Oh wow, and I've got confirmation that I've been accepted

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Speaker 2: into a degree, a bachelor's degree in science and food

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Speaker 2: science and food nutrition.

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Speaker 1: Okay, what does that meant? I mean you obviously couldn't

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Speaker 1: go and do that the next year.

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Speaker 2: I couldn't. So I was celebrating that that that had happened.

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Speaker 2: I was like, oh, week, I've got a year to

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Speaker 2: live it up and party and do whatever i want

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Speaker 2: because I'm going to defer for a year to I

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Speaker 2: said to myself and my parents that it was generate money,

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Speaker 2: but it really wasn't. I was in a frame of

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Speaker 2: mine where it was just to continue partying.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, okay, So have you been able to redo that course?

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Speaker 1: Is that something you want to do?

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Speaker 2: I mean, I'd love to. The fatigue I struggle with

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Speaker 2: now and the concentration issues like I can't. I don't

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Speaker 2: have the capacity really to undertake that that amount of study.

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Speaker 2: I have done some some tafte s tikets. I've got

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Speaker 2: a surf forward in service coodation and a serf forward

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Speaker 2: youth work. But it was really hard. I need a

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Speaker 2: lot of help. I had my auntie actually was was

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Speaker 2: a ot she earlier time when I crashed and helped

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Speaker 2: me through a lot of things. So she helped me

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Speaker 2: with a lot of study through that and it was

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Speaker 2: really really hard. I So, actually that sort of brings

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Speaker 2: up a good point, is that I've basically the lost

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Speaker 2: every opportunity ever had to generate a wage in a

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Speaker 2: former career.

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Speaker 3: Like, yeah, so now you run a pension. Wow, that

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Speaker 3: must it's not it's not the It doesn't really like

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Speaker 3: I used to. I was a working boy, was doing

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Speaker 3: hard jobs to get money. Many labored like it was

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Speaker 3: all about.

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Speaker 2: Being a citizen, paying is doing the right thing, doing

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Speaker 2: the right thing, adding money, spending and I sort of

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Speaker 2: so my view of people who chose to be an

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Speaker 2: adult wasn't really favorable in my opinion. But now I

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Speaker 2: am one, you see it from a different so, well, yeah,

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Speaker 2: but I sort of looking myself in a dark light

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Speaker 2: in that sense.

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Speaker 1: That must be the hardest part, I suppose, is knowing

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Speaker 1: how different your life could have been. You've got a

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Speaker 1: life sentence as a result of i'll say it, your

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Speaker 1: own stupidity.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, big time. The same thing I think about all

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Speaker 2: the kids I speak to today, all the young adults. Legit,

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Speaker 2: we're in Adelaide. It's a beautiful city in the first

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Speaker 2: of the country. We've got all the services and I

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Speaker 2: guess education, opportunities to be anything they want in the world.

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Speaker 2: And I didn't realize at the time that I had

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Speaker 2: that too. Yeah, it was a perfect situation for me

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Speaker 2: to just floursh be the best it could be. Yeah,

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Speaker 2: and so I overlook that.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, well, that's an important message to share with them,

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Speaker 1: isn't it. That you've got the world at your feet

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Speaker 1: at the moment in year eleven. Most of these kids

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Speaker 1: absolutely about to enter the real world in a year

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Speaker 1: or two, and the world is at their feet. They

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Speaker 1: can do whatever they want to do. Don't muck it up.

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Speaker 2: That's one. That's exactly one.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, So that that is absolutely vital. I'm pleased to

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Speaker 1: meet you today. I reckon. We've spoken on the phone

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Speaker 1: before on these days, going back sometime on five double A.

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Speaker 1: I recall the story about the girlfriend in the car. Actually, so,

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Speaker 1: I reckon, we have chatted, but it's great to meet

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Speaker 1: you today. And I think, as I said, the story

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Speaker 1: you have to share with the young people inside. It's

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Speaker 1: just got to resonate with them. You know, we don't

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Speaker 1: want to wake up in a couple of weeks time,

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Speaker 1: or a year or two time and read about the

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Speaker 1: eighteen twenty year old after these kids have been through

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Speaker 1: that someone else has been involved in such a terrible accidents.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, I guess every fatality or injury I have read

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Speaker 2: you out on the road I see as a bit

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Speaker 2: of a missuficiunity. If only if only I've been able

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Speaker 2: to talk to that personally, if I did talk to them,

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Speaker 2: and if they did go through a para program like

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Speaker 2: Street Smart, that's that's one little failure. Yeah, I take it.

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Speaker 2: I take I take it almost take it like not

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Speaker 2: not an insult, but I take it on board as

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Speaker 2: personal I didn't I didn't get to do anything.

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Speaker 3: But the way really interesting.

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Speaker 1: You say that because you know I've said and I'll

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Speaker 1: say it again. For people who've heard the show over

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Speaker 1: the last couple of hours, they've heard this a few times.

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Speaker 1: But we often wake to news of a twenty year old,

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Speaker 1: thirty year old. Even now the program's been going fifteen years,

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Speaker 1: Why hasn't this message sunk in and I suppose it

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Speaker 1: comes down to you. It's just the wrong decision at

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Speaker 1: the wrong time. You know, you have that brain snap

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Speaker 1: and suddenly you you know you're changing your life forever

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Speaker 1: as a result.

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Speaker 2: Absolutely, I think that a lot of the a lot

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Speaker 2: of the culture around aerosocial use of mode vehicles is

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Speaker 2: still intrinsic in Adelaide and the world. Essentially that I

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Speaker 2: think social circles at times, the echelons of social circles

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Speaker 2: over the importance of echelons and social circles overrides the

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Speaker 2: importance of safe road us.

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Speaker 3: Yeah.

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Speaker 1: Absolutely, well that's an important message too, Eli, thank you

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Speaker 1: for coming by and having a chat with me today

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Speaker 1: and all the best in there think thank you my guest,

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Speaker 1: Eli Mern crash survivor who lives with brain injury and

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Speaker 1: speaks here at Street Smart High the raa Street Smart

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Speaker 1: High every year and just such an important message