Driver danger

By Jade Lawton
POLICE and State Emergency Service (SES) volunteers are urging motorists to drive carefully after a series of serious crashes around Pakenham in the past two weeks.
Despite repeated calls for motorists to slow down, Cardinia’s Traffic Management Unit and SES volunteers have attended six smashes since Anzac Day.
SES volunteer Peter Morrison-Dowd said the unit usually only attended one road accident a week at most.
He said two people were lucky to walk away from a smash on the corner of McGregor Road and Webster Way, Pakenham, at 11.30pm on Thursday, where a car careened backwards in to a power pole after being hit on the passenger side.
“The smash on McGregor Road could have been a fatality, but wasn’t. There have been a few near misses. No-one in the unit likes doing it,” he said.
Also lucky to be alive is an 84-year-old Bayles woman, who was airlifted to hospital after her car rolled four times in Pakenham South on Saturday, coming to rest on its roof.
A Narre Warren man, airlifted to hospital with critical injuries on Monday night after he was thrown from his motorcycle on the Pakenham Bypass, is also alive against the odds.
“There have been way too many crashes in the past few weeks,” SES volunteer Stephen Morris said.
Victoria Police Assistant Commissioner (Traffic) Ken Lay said last week that communities needed to be accountable for their behaviour on the road.
“Complacency is our biggest killer – the driver who believes he or she is out of harm’s reach is the one most likely to suffer serious injury or even death,” he said.
“Motorists must be aware that the roads are unpredictable and that one small mistake could cost them, or someone else, their lives.”
Leading Senior Constable Anthony Templar, of Cardinia TMU, urged drivers to be patient and drive to the changing weather conditions.
“With the onset of the colder weather we have seen an increase in collisions. Motorists need to be patient,” he said.