An Investigators Account of A Never Ending Toll

Mr Hodge was one of Victoria’s leading investigators of road accidents. He was a police officer for over twenty years with eight of those spent in the Major Collision Investigation Unit. He attended over three hundred and fifty accidents that resulted in death or serious injury. This recount is not simply a book about incidents he investigated, nor lecture on safe driving, but rather a firsthand account of the impact of incidents on families and the emotional impact and psychological torment has on everyone involved including the investigating officers.

“There is the attitude that ‘It can’t happen to me’, ‘I’m a good driver’ … I can categorically state that it can happen to you and the people closest to you. It’s not scaremongering; it’s a fact…Those who have died in such senseless circumstances need a voice, and they need to have not died in vain.’

(Pg 7 & 8, Road Kill, C Hodge).

The book begins by describing his childhood and early days in the Victorian Police force.

He shares with us that he was not fascinated with death and indeed his first experience with a dead body was when he had to tour the Coroners Court in Flinders Street when he was a cadet, and told to view a body that had lost an argument with a train.

‘Little did I know then that I’d spend the best part of eight years looking at similarly disfigured bodies on a daily basis’.

(Pg 21, Road Kill, C Hodge)

He first began with the Accident Investigation Section (as it was then known) in 1985 for a three month trial. On his first day he was called to a job in Wangaratta and took photographs, took measurements and described how, although macabre scenes, he found the work stimulating.

Following acceptance to the Accident Investigation Course, he undertook a four week theory and law course followed by a technical component at Monash University where students learnt about the technical side of an ‘at-scene’ investigation. However, he notes the only major flaw in the training. No grief counseling. In 1990 he started full time with the Accident Investigation Section.

In Chapter 4 he takes us through under what circumstances the AIS would be called out, pre-call out checks and the reality of working on call. He is also quite honest in his open portrayal of his frustration about how others in the Force viewed incidents as less important than crime scenes and his cynical attitude about the ability of those at the scene to keep evidence intact. One thing I found quite astounding was that colour photographs where only allowed in the 1980’s – before that time it was feared that the graphic colour images could influence a jury!

Over the course of his career he dealt with over 600 dead bodies and is quite frank in his view that he treated them as a piece of evidence – mainly to protect his own sanity and emotional health.

‘Like other living things, the human body starts to decompose. Death takes on physicality. A rotting body literally takes on a life of its own in the form of its odour. And nothing…smells as bad as death. It’s an entity. Death permeates everything…’

(pg 45, Road Kill, C Hodge)

When it comes to identification of a body he openly discourages family members from going to the morgue. However, when required he describes rather touchingly how he has observed many different emotional reactions to this process over the years.

‘In a way I was glad I dealt with the dead instead of the living. The dead might look gruesome and give you nightmares, but the living break your heart.’

(pg 49, Road Kill, C Hodge)

When dealing with the psychological impact of dealing with investigations he shares with us that in those days, there were only 3 psychologists for more than 10,000 staff and those who sought help were often viewed as ‘mentally fragile’. He dealt with the impact of what he witnessed not by drinking as was common, but by spending time gardening with his faithful dog Jake, whose death affected him hugely as he felt it took away his greatest coping mechanism.

There are numerous stories in the book about the various incidents he attended but the one that sticks in my mind, as parent and as someone who has worked with the fire brigade, is the story of Cassie – the little girl who never got to turn 6. It’s a distressing chapter and one that will stick with me for a long time.

‘…the extent of the damage to the deceased could be graphically seen…blood was dripping from the roof…I noticed tissue covering the gear indicator…I reeled back out of the car in horror as I realised the extent of the injuries to the unfortunate little girl…I wasn’t walking on gravel, but skull fragments…I was in deep emotional trouble…I was done. I couldn’t do anymore.’

(pg 93 & 94, Road Kill, C Hodge)

‘It was then the horror struck me. I looked directly into the eyes of a grieving mother who was in so much pain that I just didn’t want to comprehend what she was telling me. As I looked at her, I knew….she had seen the parts of her daughters head on the road.’ (pg 96, Road Kill, C Hodge)

The emotional trauma he suffers becomes evident when he describes how he tried to take his own life by sticking a Smith & Weston .38 gun in his mouth at the Police Station and how in his irrational thoughts he was more worried about the mess that the office typist would find, rather than leaving his family and wife behind. In four short statements he sums up why the job nearly cost him his life.

The book concludes with his journey into therapy and has been diagnosed with PTSD and the legal and investigative changes that have occurred over the years since he left the force. He goes on to discuss measures he thinks would be most effective in combating the number of deaths each year on the roads.

‘I reckon it’s high time we pulled back the carpet to reveal what has long been forbidden…let’s tell people it’s not clean and tidy, but a messy, horrible way to die. You’re mangled, split open, hacked, splattered, mashed, disfigured, dismembered and decapitated.’

(pg 245, Road Kill, C Hodge)

After the breakdown of his marriage and battling depression for over a decade, Craig spent some time at Werribee Mercy Hospital. He has suffered bowel cancer and had just been diagnosed with lung cancer when the book was published. He lived in suburban Melbourne. Road Kill was his first and only book.

Sadly, at 5:29am, on the 8th of July 2014, Craig passed away. After 8 years of fighting cancer, Craig lost his fight peacefully with his new wife Kerryn by his side.

Whilst a very hard and graphic book to read in places, it certainly provides a thought provoking basis for conversations regarding road safety and the effects of working in trauma on those involved.

There is never just one victim.

The impact of incidents affects many and for many years to follow.