Albany teen’s important warning after she was thrown from the tray of a ute in crash that nearly killed her

An Albany teenager who was seriously injured in a crash says she feels lucky to be alive and wants others to learn from the mistake that almost killed her. Emmily Burgess, 19, and two friends were four-wheel-driving on the night of March 8 on a gravel service track near Sandpatch when the vehicle rolled down an embankment. Ms Burgess, who was riding in the tray of the Holden Colorado ute with her 22-year-old male friend, was thrown from the back of the vehicle. “I don’t remember anything from the crash,” Ms Burgess said. “I just remember waking up Tuesday morning in Albany Regional Hospital with my mum and best friend next to me. “Then doctors telling me I was being flown to Perth because I had broken two vertebra in my back, fractured my spine, broken my arm in three places, and needed surgery.” Ms Burgess returned home to Albany last Thursday after a lengthy stint at Royal Perth Hospital for treatment to serious back, face and arm injuries. While the 22-year-old driver and the 22-year-old male passenger escaped without serious injury, Ms Burgess faces a lengthy period of rehabilitation after spending a week in the RPH trauma ward. She has had plates put in her left arm, requires regular check-ups on her fractured back, and is off work for at least three months. “I’ve got to have a nerve conduction test because I’ve got no feeling in my thumb,” she said. “I’ll be backwards and forwards from Perth with follow-up appointments and I’ve got to go back, have another X-ray and see how I’m healing. “They are expecting a full recovery. My back is the one I’ve got to be more careful of.” The apprentice hairdresser said she and her friends had made a mistake and she did not blame anyone else for her predicament. Riding in the tray of a ute is illegal in WA. “We just went for a four-wheel-drive along the coastal track,” she said. “I wasn’t driving because I was tired. “My mate hopped in the tray and so did I, and just didn’t expect it to go the way it did. “You can’t point the blame at anyone.” Ms Burgess said she wanted her situation to serve as a warning. “I’m definitely very lucky to still be alive,” she said. “I’ve ridden in the back of a ute plenty of times before, and at the time we never thought it could go so wrong. “This has been a big lesson to me that it’s just so dangerous and I hope others can learn from my mistake.”