By CASEY NEILL
DRIVERS endured lengthy delays in Dandenong last Tuesday morning after a driver crashed his car into a power pole.
Police and United Energy blocked Stud Road from about 7.30am over fears that the concrete pole could topple and bring down power lines.
The closure left shoppers leaving the busy Dandenong Market stuck in choked streets.
United Energy replaced the pole by mid-afternoon and told the Journal that only three homes were without power during the process.
Police described the crash as a “minor accident” and said the impact was at low speed.
“Where he hit the pole, he seemed to hit a bit of a sweet spot which caused all that damage,” the officer said.
The 20-year-old driver told the Journal a fogged windscreen may have obscured his vision as he drove to work along Stud Road, toward central Dandenong.
He said a car turning right into Stud Road from Herbert Street clipped the back of his sedan and he lost control, veering into oncoming traffic.
He swerved back into the left lane to avoid a collision, but instead hit the pole and forced it into a brick wall outside an apartment block.
His air bag deployed and surrounded him with dust and smoke, sending him hurrying from the car in fear of an explosion.
“When it hit I just saw the pole in front of me and I thought ‘I’m gone’,” the driver said at the scene.
Sandeep Bhanot has lived across the street for six years and said he’d seen 10 or 11 car crashes on Stud Road between King and Herbert streets.
He said that three months ago a car careered through the wall in front of an apartment block just up the road, and that there was a serious collision at the King Street and Stud Road intersection last year.
The City of Greater Dandenong has since banned right turns onto Stud Road out of King Street.
“They did the cheaper version,” Mr Bhanot said.
“They should have lights on the intersection of King as well. It will stop the flow for a while.”
“Especially on Tuesdays and Fridays, the traffic is horrendous.”
