Another year, another success for Convoy.
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Scores of vehicles of all shapes and sizes thundered down Mount Ousley on Sunday, again with the sole purpose of making the lives of others better.
Over 700 trucks and 1000 motorcycles took part in this year’s Convoy.
Thousands of people lined the roadside.
Even before Sunday’s event, organisers were estimating the total raised as being in the vicinity of $1.3 million and the final figure is set to be revealed in coming days.
One of the key drivers of the event, i98FM radio host Marty Haynes captured the uniqueness of the event on the day.
‘’I’ve said from day dot we live in such a beautiful place and everyone wants to help,’’ Mr Haynes told the Illawarra Mercury.
‘’Convoy is just one of those avenues where we can go out and show people that we love and we care for them and we want to do something for them.
‘’It's probably a very dark and lonely world for someone when they find out their child is sick or a little five year-old or 10-year-old kid knows mum's got breast cancer.
‘’With the trucks and the bikes and the amount of people on the side of the road they know that they are not walking their journey alone.’’
This year’s event created much comment around the suggestion police were enforcing road rules for the event including the wearing of seatbelts.
Yet road safety is something that should never be relaxed.
An online poll conducted by the Illawarra Mercury returned a resounding vote.
The poll simply asked “should seatbelt regulations apply even during chiarity events?”.
That would include not just events like Convoy, but other events such as Christmas parades.
Overwhelmingly people voted that seatbelt regulations should apply to such events.
As one reader on Facebook commented: “If someone participating in the event were to be seriously injured as a result of not abiding by the law, it could jeopardise the event for the following year/s. Simply abiding by the everyday road rules will ensure that everyone can continue to enjoy the Convoy.”
We couldn't have put it better ourselves.
Spot on.
As they say in the classics, “better to be safe than sorry”.