Nick Campo’s father’s heartbreaking plea to the top cop after a terrifying weekend on Western Australian roads

A father whose son died in a tragic crash has called on police to do more to ensure road safety after a series of horrific fatal crashes.

Six people were killed and six others suffered varying degrees of injuries in three major crashes in Western Australia over the weekend.

State Highway Patrol Chief Mike Bell said Daniel Campo, the father of 18-year-old Nick, an aspiring football star, called him Saturday night and asked him to change his traffic safety messages.

He said Mr Campo was shocked by the deaths of three men, a 34-year-old and two 22-year-olds, when the car they were in crashed into a tree in Perth earlier this morning.

The tragedy “obviously reminded him” of his son’s death when the ute he was riding in, allegedly driven dangerously by a comrade, crashed on July 13.

Despite their grief, Nick’s parents spent the months following his death urging young Australians to stay safe on the roads.

“He’s just annoyed that his message of young people slowing down and driving in rough conditions and parents talking to their children about staying safe just isn’t getting through,” Cllr Bell told the West Australian.

“I can understand his frustration because I’ve been training for much longer than 14 weeks and feel the same frustration.”

The police chief added that Washington State Police will have to “find new ways to reach people” after Campos’ previous calls appeared to fall on deaf ears.

“Driving is a dangerous activity and you need to be careful because things happen unexpectedly,” he said.

“Sometimes driver behavior directly contributes to these accidents.”

The alleged driver of the car that crashed on Saturday, Zac Thomas Haylen, appeared at Northbridge Magistrates’ Court for a bedside hearing on Sunday.

Police say the 22-year-old man was traveling at 114km/h in a 70km/h zone when he hit a curb and then crashed into a tree just after 5am in Carlisle, Perth.

He allegedly returned a preliminary breath test result of 0.095, but police are still awaiting the results of the second test.

Haylen suffered minor injuries while two other men, aged 23 and 19, were taken to Royal Perth Hospital in a serious condition.

Hours after his court appearance, police confirmed the deaths of two Indonesian women in a separate crash in Nergabbie, north of Perth, on Saturday afternoon.

A 23-year-old and a 31-year-old suffered serious injuries after their Honda Accord collided with a silver Jeep Cherokee. They could not be revived.

At the scene, paramedics treated the driver of the Jeep and four passengers with varying degrees of non-life-threatening injuries.

The sixth death occurred after an 83-year-old woman suffered a medical attack while driving in Alexander Heights, north of Perth, and crashed into another car.

The terrible weekend brought Washington’s toll count to 146, just below last year’s 158, and set off a wake-up call for state government.

“My team is working on the road safety summit recommendations,” Prime Minister Roger Cook said.

“Especially when we heard from people like Danielle Campo just pleading, can we make our youth, our young people, a little safer this year.”

Mr Cook said his government would “continue to invest billions to improve road safety in our region” but repeated calls for young people to practice safe driving.

“It’s very simple: don’t be distracted by your mobile phone, don’t drive when tired, don’t drive while under the influence of alcohol or drugs, wear your seat belt.

“Make the right decisions and follow the conditions.”