Laura Johnston has been outspoken about her “terrifying” experience in February as she drives a call for nationwide change. Photo: Supplied.
Multiple roadside assistance providers have committed to expanded safety measures after a Canberra-born comedian raised serious safety concerns.
Earlier this month Laura Johnston shared an “absolutely terrifying” experience in February which left her feeling “powerless”.
She called her roadside assistance company, NRMA, after she broke down while driving home from a gig in rural NSW.
While the company told her it would take about two hours for someone to arrive from Canberra, someone else soon arrived.
Ms Johnston alleges a man arrived in a car with a broken window, became upset when she asked for ID and swore at her.
It took about 20 minutes for the NRMA to confirm with her that he was a contractor.
The experience drove her to campaign for the automotive industry to implement a “no-brainer” system where both the stranded customer and the dispatched worker receive matching codes.
“It made me question for a bit if I could continue doing stand-up comedy in the way that I was doing it, which is a horrible thing to question when you love stand-up comedy so much,” she told Region this week.
“I’m just really keen to do my bit in making sure that no-one else has to go through what I went through or what happened afterwards.
“I feel responsible and I’m keen to fix it.”
Her videos have gathered more than one million views across social media platforms.
A petition calling for roadside assistance companies to strengthen their ID measures for contractors has gathered more than 27,000 signatures.
“I’m still receiving DMs [direct messages] daily from people who have gone through something similar.
“[There’s messages from] people going, ‘Thank you so much for shedding a light on this. My sister experienced it’.
“I think it’s a really easy scenario to put yourself in … to picture yourself going through the same thing and how you’d react in that moment.”
In the wake of her petition, multiple roadside assistance companies – including NRMA – have since committed to investigating or implementing expanded safety measures.
She said hearing those commitments was “a massive win”.
“We’ve already achieved massive steps towards that meaningful change,” she said.
In a statement to Region, the company confirmed representatives had met with Ms Johnston.
“As a member organisation that is committed to going above and beyond, this meeting allowed us to hear from Laura and share ideas on how we can make the identification process on the side of the road simpler and more efficient,” a spokesperson told Region.
“We will now begin the process of implementing these enhancements.”
Laura inside a Canberra venue before a gig. Photo: Supplied.
Ms Johnston also returned to Canberra for a meeting with representatives of Minister for Women Katy Gallagher.
She is also pulling together a list of what safety measures roadside assistance companies have in place, but stresses it’s not about singling any company out as falling short.
“It’s not just an NRMA issue, it’s an Australia-wide issue … I’m going to somehow release that information as a resource for everyone,” she said.
“That is going to be what their current policies are – do they have a way for us to verify that the contractors are who they say they are?”
Ms Johnston is preparing to next take to the stage at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival in August and says that’s where her focus is.
“I really love comedy … I’m hoping to get back to it.
“If something else happens that I can push for, I’m sure that I’ll jump on that.
“But hopefully, next time won’t be as emotionally connected to me … It’s been a bit overwhelming trying to fight for something that has had such an emotional impact on me as well.”
Original Article published by Claire Sams on Region Canberra.
