Walhalla car crash: Declan Day’s mum breaks silence on loss of teen on notorious stretch of road

A grieving mother says her son would have been alive today if safety rails had been installed along a treacherous stretch of road six months earlier.

Samantha Day knew immediately something had happened to her son Declan, 19, when she read a news report on Facebook about a car crash in the Victorian Gippsland town of Walhalla that happened 30 minutes earlier on June 19, 2022.

Declan had traveled 100km from his hometown of Drouin to Mount St Gwinear to see snow with some of his friends.

On the way home, the car he was driving slid off a notoriously dangerous stretch of Walhalla Road and rolled off a cliff before coming to rest in a creek 100 feet below.

Declan died instantly. The three other occupants of the car were rushed to hospitals in Melbourne.

Nearly two years later, Mrs. Day and her three daughters are still struggling to cope with the tragedy so much that one of Declan’s sisters won’t allow “happy birthday” to be sung at family birthdays, including his upcoming 21st.

“I still feel like I’ve lost a piece of myself,” she said 7news.com.au.

“It’s absolutely devastated us, but we’re trying to keep going.”

Although she felt like something was wrong, her worst fears were only confirmed when a knock on the door several hours later confirmed her worst fears.

‘As soon as my mother… opened the door, I saw them (the police) and I said ‘no’ and they said ‘yes’.

‘I just fell to the ground.

“I just felt like my whole world was falling apart.”

Ms Day said the driver was not speeding and had no alcohol or other drugs in his system.

Coroner Simon McGregor found the road was wet at the time of the crash, which happened at the first bend out of the gold mining town of Walhalla, where there were no crash barriers.

A similar accident took place in the same bend in 2017, where a car slid off the road. Fortunately, all occupants survived.

Barely a month after Declan’s death, another car left the road in the same bend, but again without any fatalities.

Coroner McGregor said in his report that it was ‘likely’ that safety barriers ‘would have prevented the subsequent rollover and prevented further serious injuries’.

Baw Baw Shire Mayor Michael Leaney first raised concerns about the roadway to VicRoads ten years earlier, in 2012.

The car plunged 100 feet off a cliff, killing Declan instantly. Three other passengers were rushed to hospital

It was only after Declan’s death that the guardrails were finally installed.

Mrs Day regretted it was ‘too late’ to save her son, but hopes no more lives will be lost on this infamous stretch.

She hopes the safety rails will remain Declan’s legacy.

“It’s very frustrating because they weren’t speeding or anything, and then, you know, after he died, it was over,” Ms Day said.

‘They said it couldn’t be done, and then it happened.

“(Declan’s) been taken from us and the reality is that people have to die before any change can happen.”

Declan was the eldest of Mr Day’s four children and she said one of his little sisters wouldn’t let the family sing Happy Birthday since they celebrated his 19th.

Later this month Declan, who studied mental health online at university. would have turned 21.

Samantha Day (left) said her family is shattered by the death of Declan (right) and no longer sings Happy Birthday after last doing so before he was 19

“He (will) never live to be 21, he’ll never get married, never have kids, anything like that. It’s just… it’s a terrible feeling,” Ms Day said.

“He had a smile that could light up the room, he was friendly and always took care of people.

She plans to visit her son’s grave on his birthday, followed by a gathering at home attended by Declan’s friends.