TWO young Warrnambool men are lucky to be alive after the car they were in split in two after colliding with an electricity pole.
Sergeant Chris Asenjo said the accident happened in west Warrnambool on Saturday evening when the driver of a blue Holden Commodore sedan travelling along Coghlans Road, off Caramut Road, lost control and hit an electricity pole.
“The force of the collision has spit the car in two,” Sergeant Asenjo said.
“When police arrived just after 10pm both of the male occupants of the car were out of the vehicles and had suffered only minor injuries.
“They were taken to hospital for observation. They were very lucky not to be killed or to have sustained serious injuries.
“Alcohol and significant speed are being investigated as contributing factors in the collision. Highway patrol officers are in the process of reconstructing the collision.”
Sergeant Asenjo said a blood sample was taken for alcohol analysis from the driver, who is aged in his early 20s.
The accident comes a night after an unlicensed teenage driver died in a single-vehicle collision at Hurstbridge, north-east of Melbourne.
Two 15-year-old boys were travelling north on Wattletree Road just before 10pm when the driver lost control, veered onto the eastern side of the road and struck a tree.
The joyriding driver of his father’s Mitsubishi wagon was ejected from the vehicle and died before it caught fire. His passenger was able to escape the flames.
Sergeant Asenjo said it was only luck that allowed the two Warrnambool men to walk away from the Coghlans Road accident scene.
“These two young men were incredibly lucky,” he said.
“The message is clear: young drivers have to be responsible. If you don’t have a licence you don’t drive and no driver should ever be in control of a vehicle under the influence of alcohol.”
