A FOREIGN national driving on the wrong side of the road at Mailors Flat caused a head-on collision which, according to police, was fortunate not to have led to a fatality.
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A Warrnambool police spokesman said the male driver in a Honda sedan was heading south on the Warrnambool-Caramut Road about 8.30pm last Friday.
“He was driving on the wrong side of the road. His front driver’s-side wheel was on the fog line, his whole car was on the wrong side of the road,” he said.
“A local couple and their baby were heading north in a Hyundai SUV. The head-on accident happened about two kilomteres north of Mailors Flat on a long sweeping bend.”
The police officer said both vehicles were destroyed in the collision.
“The driver of the Honda was fine. Investigations into the cause of the accident are continuing but it’s expected he will face multiple charges,” he said.
“The male SUV driver was restrained and he’s fine. The four-month-old baby was restrained and the bub is fine, but the mother/partner was unrestrained in the back with the baby and went flying between the two front seats. She very fortunately only suffered a broken wrist.
“It’s lunacy travelling in the back of a car unrestrained.”
Those involved in the collision were taken by ambulance to hospital for assessment.
The police officer said he and another officer were travelling to Warrnambool Base Hospital to check on the conditions of those involved in the accident when another vehicle approached them speeding.
“We got to the 60km/h zone at Mailors Flat when this hotted up Holden ute travelling north went past us like a jet. It was doing 150kmh,” he said.
“We got on the radio and alerted officers at the accident scene, because the road was still blocked, that there was a ute coming their way at warp speed.”
The police officer said he did a U-turn and found the ute driver sitting in a queue approaching the accident scene.
“I was frustrated, angry and less than impressed and expressed myself to the driver of the ute,” the officer said.
“Another driver also approached us and had heard the ute doing a burnout at the Caramut Road traffic lights. It’s a very distinctive engine.”
Police measured the 80-metre burnout at the intersection and measured the vehicle with the skid marks, which were an exact match.
The 24-year-old Mailors Flat driver surrendered his ute to police at the weekend.
He is expected to be charged with speeding and hoon diving offences.
“He said it was a wake-up call. He was absolutely flying,” the police officer said.
