In 1974 the NSW road toll was over 1,200 people, the need to address this at a local level was evident and the Mudgee Rescue Squad was founded.
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At their 45th anniversary dinner on Friday, original member Geoff Hawes, said, "the road toll last year was 333, it's a massive drop from when we started".
"A lot of that is down to cars and roads getting better, but also rescue services have helped in saving peoples' lives."
Although he admitted that the early days were trying to say the least.
"The first few accidents we went to, unfortunately all of the people that were in them were deceased. So some of us, including me, thought 'I didn't join to do this'," he said.
However, that all changed with a call-out to a truck crash at Tuckers Hill, when they saved the driver.
And while their equipment was "rudimentary", residents of nearby Hargraves later held a tennis day to raise money for their first set of cutters - which are still used by the Squad.
That kind of community support helped them to buy their current truck in recent years and their gear is no longer so basic.
"We consider it to be as good as any truck in the state and the equipment [now all battery-powered] is second-to-none," Geoff said.
