Martin Wrangle was one of 10 people who had lost loved ones in speed-related road collisions who featured in an emotive TAC advertising campaign launched last Wednesday.

He said he volunteered because he didn't want others to live through the same pain. "I live with it every day. It's something that'll stay with me till I die."

The moment his family's life changed forever was 5am on October 24, 2004 - federal election day.

His son Trevor, 19, one week from graduating as a landscape designer, was speeding on a sweeping right-hand bend in McClelland Drive, Skye. He ran off the road, hitting a gum tree.

Mr Wrangle remembers hearing a radio report at 6.30am about a P-plater dying in Skye but thought nothing of it.

Later that morning, he got "the phone call".

He and his other two children feel the loss of Trevor every special occasion, such as birthdays and Christmas.

Mr Wrangle said he was sick of seeing bouquets for the dead on roadsides. "We've just got to stop young kids wiping themselves off on the road on a Saturday or Sunday morning."

He wants to spread the message - speed kills. "If people just stuck to the speed limit, we wouldn't be losing our kids at the rate we are."

In Victoria, speed is the most common factor in road fatalities, accounting for at least 30 per cent of the 332 deaths last year.

Mr Wrangle said Trevor, who would be 23 years old now, had "hundreds of friends" at his funeral who would be reminded of him by the TAC commercials.

He said his son was a brilliant driver. "Even the best of them make a mistake ... He made a stupid mistake and he was speeding. He was quite clearly speeding."

He said it was hard for people to contemplate the risks without being jolted by a tragedy.

"It's a very hard, powerful lesson. People have to learn to respect the roads, that driving is a privilege, not a right."