Blinded by your headlights and far from home
Read about our song South West Blues and the meaning behind the lyrics.
Written by Chris Featon
Travelling long distances in Western Australia is a very common thing. We spend so much time behind the wheel of our cars, listening to music, sitting in gridlock on our major roads like Orrong Road and Tonkin Hwy or being held up by road works that never seem to end and for myself, my entire job entails me to drive all day.... but no one knows the perils of driving, fatigue and long distance than the folks living in regional W.A.
“Blinded by your headlights. Newdegate blues have set in..." - Lyrics from South West Blues.”
My name is Chris and I have one of the best jobs going around, i sell beer for a living! Working for a brewery and speaking with bars and bottleshops, sees me travel all around metro Perth but i also do country runs to rural W.A.
A few years back, i used to look after Albany and Esperance, which if you've ever done the drive, takes 5 hours to get to Albany from Perth, takes 6 hours to get from Albany to Esperance and it takes 7 and a half hours to get from Esperance back to Perth. It's a very long drive, it can be lonely.. but the views during the day are amazing!
It was my first ever country run to the South West region, i'd completed a couple of days inland towards Beverley, Narrogin, Katanning and I had made my way down to Walpole and Albany. At this stage, i'd been on the road for 3 days by myself with the occasional radio station, i couldn't keep a phone signal (thanks Telstra) and i was starting to go stir crazy from my own thoughts. On the fourth day, i set off to complete the last working leg of my journey and I set off from Albany at 9am to make my way through Newdegate, Ravensthorpe, Bremer Bay and Hopetoun before spending the afternoon in Esperance to see my customers there. By 6pm at night, i had finally seen everyone and had officially completed my first country run down south.
After 4 days on the road and thousands of Kilometres later, i felt a wave of relief take over me. I stopped to get some Subway for my dinner and i started to think, i better find some accomodation for the night... and for some reason, i convinced myself that heading home to my own bed, to my wife and to my kids would be a much smarter idea. I called my wife to tell her i was coming home, i refuelled, gathered supplies and i set off on the massive journey home back to Perth.
“ A shocking 505 people died on WA roads from 2013 to 2017.... Fatigue was a factor in 22.9% of incidents " - Extract from www.farmweekly.com.au”
If you haven't done the calculation by now, I had set off at 9am and finished at 6:30pm in Esperance before driving the 7 and half hours back to Perth. I had already had 9 and a half hours on the road with only casual stops to see customers which would be acceptable and fine, if I had of just slept in Esperance. This is where the song South West Blues starts. As i set off from the coastal town of Esperance, it was still sunny and bright, i had a spring in my step, i'd sorted out a Spotify playlist and i was keen to clock some km's on the odometer. I had calculated if i went through Newdegate, through Wagin and down through Beverley, it would get me back to my home half an hour faster but i didn't look at the fact that a lot of these roads were extremely rural and were used mainly for transport of trucks between mine sites. A few hours into the drive and it was pitch black, not a light to be seen, it felt like I was alone and again no phone signal (thanks again Telstra).
In that moment of stupidity i realise i'm 4 hours into a 7 hour drive home... with no one around to keep me company, there's no point turning back as i'm just as close to Perth as I am to Esperance and im in bumfuck Idaho with no where to stay. If you've ever done a drive at night on outback roads, you'll know the plyt of kangaroo's, headlights and fatigue and that is what our song South West Blues is all about. The song talks about my experience on the 7 hour trip home, my thoughts as I think about my family, the hours spent looking out into the bushland, watching to see if i see movement of animals, the winding roads of bitumen and gravel and the never ending headlights of cars and trucks who may or may not be struggling as i was.
As you would have guessed, i got home safe that night at 2am in the morning, with a very unhappy and relieved wife waiting for me to walk through the door. I do regret driving that night and amongst this song being a story of one of my mistakes, hopefully it serves as a deterrent and a warning to other people that driver fatigue is real and it is highly dangerous. Please make sure you stay safe for yourself and the other road users out there.
Credit: Pieter Rass and Chris Featon for the photography
