Ten years ago, three young men drove away from a 21st birthday party and their car hit a bad bend in the road.

Ben Turner, a 22-year-old with dreams of travelling the world, died. Taylor Latimer, 17, was left with a permanent head injury. And Sam Hunter, the 21-year-old driver, wound up in jail.

In the days after the accident, many people felt like Bonny Hills — a sleepy surf town in New South Wales where everyone knows everyone — had lost its innocence.

"It was the start of three or four years of just living. That's all it was, just living, and getting through each day," Ben's mother Lyn says.

But this is more than a story of pain: it is one of forgiveness, and overcoming.

Rising above blame

Ben Turner was 22 years old when he died in the car accident. ( Supplied )

On the night of the accident, on November 30, 2008, Sam's blood alcohol level was over the legal limit. No-one was wearing a seat belt.

Sam's parents — Dave and Steph — owned and ran the local corner shop and service station at the time.

After the crash locals went into the shop with their heads bowed, not knowing what to say or do. For some it was easier to shop in the next town than to see the pain in their faces.

But Dave was surprised to find nobody looked at him with blame in their eyes.

"I felt, is there going to be this anger, are people going to accuse? But there wasn't one person, it was astonishing," he recalls.

A remarkable act of forgiveness soon followed.

Just two days after the accident, Ben's grieving parents Lyn and Peter came to the shop.

"We just looked at each other and hugged each other, we all cried," Dave recalls.

"They kept repeating: 'we're not blaming Sam one iota'."

The small community of Bonny Hills was rocked by news of the accident. ( ABC News: Sarah Maunder )

Lyn says there was never a moment where she blamed anyone.

"It was just an accident, they were all in party mode and it was just a silly mistake," she says.

"It was important for Pete and I to go down and tell them that… because it wouldn't have been good for us either."

Defying the odds

Taylor, a promising musician, was in a coma for weeks after the accident.

Doctors weren't hopeful for his recovery.

"His head was twice the size it normally was. They said he wouldn't live and if he did he'd be a vegetable," says his mother, Lou O'Neill.

One day, Taylor started thrashing about, trying to disconnect his life support systems.

After the accident, Taylor's mother — Lou — says she grieved for her son's lost future. ( ABC News: Sarah Maunder )

"He started throwing his legs around and I said to him 'Taylor you can't do that, you've got to stop throwing your legs around, you've got a broken leg'," Lou says.

"And he said 'yes I can'. My mouth fell open and I thought 'that's right, yes you can'."

It was the first time Taylor had spoken.

Taylor describes being in a coma as like being in one big dream — he remembers having a beer with Jesus on the beach.

Four months after the accident, after much rehabilitation, Taylor went home to Bonny Hills.

Lou remembers the early days were really hard — Taylor was "defiant and impulsive".

"[He] didn't want to hear that he couldn't just carry on with life as he once knew it," she says.

Taylor, who had wanted to be a doctor, had just started Year 12 when the accident happened.

He thought he could return to school, but his brain injury meant studying was a challenge.

"I grieved for the Taylor who I lost and for all of his future dreams. That was really hard," Lou says.

'There is not a day he doesn't think about it'

Sam sustained a slight head injury on the night, and the reality of what had happened took a while to sink in.

"To be the driver and to realise that a very close friend has died and one is seriously hurt, he was in a hard place," his father Dave says.

"To this day, there is not a day that he doesn't think about it. It's a burden to bear."

Sam pleaded guilty to negligent driving occasioning death and grievous bodily harm, and was sentenced to two years of weekend detention.

"He was a kid who had no trouble with the law and his life was turned upside down, everything went on hold," Dave says.

New beginnings – and lasting wounds

After the accident, the Hunters gave Taylor a part-time job at their shop.

Working was a challenge, but they wanted to support him however they could.

Lyn and Peter regularly visit their son's favourite surfing spot. ( ABC News: Sarah Maunder )

Now, he works in aged care — he says his own experience of being in hospital helps him relate to his patients.

"It's something that makes my soul feel good, when I can help people that actually need some quality help and loving," he says.

And he is grateful for the little things.

"I'm just happy to get up and be able to cook my own breakfast, and walk my dog down to the beach and appreciate how beautiful nature is," he says.

After the accident, time seemed to move a little slower in Bonny Hills, the days tinged with pain.

The days are passing faster now, but the pain will always linger.

Dave doesn't live in Bonny Hills anymore, but every time he passes through he always looks at the corner where the accident happened.

"You always glance that way and reflect on it," he says.

Lou doesn't let any of her three sons go to 18th or 21st birthday parties.

"I don't want to have anything to do with parties and drinking," she says.

Ben's father Peter works for the local council, and he built steps down from the lighthouse to one of his son's favourite surfing spots.

He and Lyn placed a remembrance plaque there.

"We go down there sometimes and have a little think about him," Lyn says.

"It's a beautiful little spot."