by Philip Salama-West
Greater Dandenong has been rocked by a “horror” series of fatal crashes in a tragic beginning to National Road Safety Week.
From Saturday 10 – Monday 12 May, a number of separate incidents led to the deaths of nine people travelling on Victorian roads.
Two of the incidents involved residents of the Greater Dandenong area, including a Dandenong North family and a Springvale South man.
In Trafalgar, a Dandenong North woman died and three family members seriously injured after two cars collided at the intersection of North Canal Road and Willow Grove Road on Mother’s Day, 11 May.
One car, driven by a 52-year-old man, rolled off an embankment as a result of the crash, killing his 49-year-old female passenger and injuring a 19-year-old woman and a 15-year-old boy who were also passengers.
The driver and passenger of the second vehicle were taken to hospital with serious injuries.
The following day on 12 May, two drivers, a 46-year-old Springvale South man and a 52-year-old Scoresby woman, were declared deceased at the scene after their cars collided at the intersection of Westall Road and Rosebank Avenue in Clayton South.
Greater Dandenong Mayor Jim Memeti addressed the incidents during a council meeting on 12 May, calling it “a horror weekend on Victoria’s roads”.
“Our thoughts and our prayers are with those affected by these horrific incidents, and our condolences are with the families of those lost ones.” Cr Memeti said.
Assistant Commissioner Glenn Weir of Victoria Police’s Road Policing Command, stated that the incidents mostly took place in conditions of “perfect weather and low traffic”, citing speeding and noncompliance with road rules as key causative factors.
“A moment of noncompliance can have life changing or fatal consequences”, Weir said, lamenting that these fatalities had taken place during National Road Safety Week.
Weir also stated that protests over the weekend had sapped police manpower and limited Victoria Police’s ability to respond to road incidents.
seven other fatalities took place over the weekend period:
– A 53-year-old male motorcyclist killed when his bike collided with a vehicle at Moutajup
– A 61-year-old male driver killed when his vehicle hit a fence at Kurunjang in a suspected medical episode.
– A 43-year-old male driver killed when two cars collided at Pootilla, east of Ballarat.
– A 26-year-old male driver killed after losing control of his car at Swan Hill West.
– Two yet-to-be-identified occupants of one vehicle killed during a two-car collision in Eganstown.
