Losing a child like that is something Jane said "you wouldn't wish on your worst enemy".

Adrian was just 23 when the driver of the car he was a passenger in lost control and smashed into a tree near Dixie in regional Victoria, killing him instantly.

Jane and her husband Doug from Warrnambool stood alongside police in Melbourne on Wednesday, March 27, 2024 as the faces of the Easter road safety campaign, urging people not to drink and drive.

It's not something they ever thought they would have to do, or want to do. But they know it's what their son - who had a heart for helping others - would want.

"We want to be his voice," Jane said.

Knowing her son could still make a difference to someone else's family was one of the reasons she decided to speak publicly.

Police will be out in force over Easter, especially in regional areas, as part of Operation Nexus targeting drink and drug drivers.

Adrian was killed on July 30, 2022.

"It was literally the worst day of our lives," Jane said.

"A mother, parents certainly should never have to bury their child.

"People think: 'It won't happen to me'. I want people to know that it can and it did.

"There was only four of us. We've lost a quarter of our family. Our lives will never be normal again."

Jane and her family have spent the past 18 months adjusting to what she calls their "new normal".

There are so many happy memories to hold on to but they're bittersweet.

"The thing I am grateful for is he came over for dinner the Thursday night before it happened. I look at that as my goodbye. I have to. We left with a big hug and said 'I love you'," Jane said.

"We were lucky we had a close family.

"He would always say 'hey, what's crack-a-lackin' fam'. He was definitely a character."

Adrian, an apprentice welder, would have been 25 last year.

"He had big dreams. He always dreamed of being a dad, he had dreams of having a business of his own," Jane said.

"And all that's gone.

"It's birthdays, Christmas, all those milestones you never get back."

Jane said it was not just her family's lives that had been affected by the tragedy, but his friends were also still struggling.

"He always put others before himself. He was a person that people would turn to if they were struggling," she said.

"People gravitated towards him because he was a good listener."

One of her favourite memories of Adrian was the day he called to tell her how he'd helped a young teenager begging for money in Melbourne.

He'd bought him some food, called support services and sat and chatted to this boy for an hour or so until help arrived.

"He phoned me with such excitement. He said: 'Mum, I think I just saved a life'," she said.

"He got such pleasure out of helping people and knowing he'd made a difference."

And that was what he was doing on the night he died - trying to help someone else.

Adrian was living out past Allansford and had been planning to go out that night to cheer up a friend, who was like a sister to him.

The initial plan was to come into Warrnambool but when an acquaintance turned up and offered to drive, the group ended up at a pub in Terang - a place he would not normally go.

The group of three got separated during the night and, when it came time to leave, Adrian and his friend got into the car with the driver.

Jane said she can only assume they didn't know their designated driver - who they didn't know that well - had also been drinking.

"Adrian was always very vocal about drunk driving. And that's the thing that took me a while to actually understand. Why they got in the car," Jane said.

Adrian had never hesitated before to call her to pick him up if he'd been out drinking and needed a ride, she said.

Jane is now pleading: make sure you trust the person driving you home.

"Adrian always believed everyone had good in them until they proved otherwise. Unfortunately, in this case, it cost him his life," Jane said.

"He was an amazing young man but trusting other people cost him his life.

"There's no excuse to drink and drive. You hear all this 'drink and drive you're a bloody idiot'. Well, yes you are.

"Adrian was killed in a collision. I can't say an accident because to me it's not an accident. It was totally avoidable."

When the driver lost control of the car that night and crashed into a tree, Adrian was killed instantly. The car caught fire and the female passenger was trapped with severe injuries.

The female driver - who was able to get out of the car - has been jailed over the crash, but could be released at 23 - the same age Adrian was when he died.

"Her life can carry on. He's gone," Jane said.

"A total waste and avoidable. Yes, it would have been devastating if it had been a true accident. I could probably accept that a little more.

"But the fact is this should never have happened."

Jane said she had since been told that a number of people at the pub that night had offered the driver a lift but she didn't take them up on it.

She wishes someone "had the guts to follow through" that night and ensure that if they thought someone had been drinking, they ensured they didn't drive.

"It could save a life," she said.

"The long weekend is coming up... don't get on the road, don't get behind the wheel, don't get in a car with someone you don't 100 per cent trust."

Jane said if sharing her story made just one person hesitant about getting in the car and saved a life, "then something good has come of his loss of life".