Girl, 2, dies in horror crash on Sturt Highway at Shea-Oak Log, driver arrested and charged
The driver who crashed into the back of a truck on Wednesday has been charged with causing death by dangerous driving. A two-year-old passenger died in the crash, and a 6-year-old passenger suffered serious injuries.
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A driver who crashed a car into the back of a parked truck – killing a two-year-old passenger – in Adelaide’s north, has been arrested and charged with causing death by dangerous driving.
The crash happened on the Sturt Highway at Shea-Oak Log, just northeast of Gawler, about 10.45am on Wednesday.
The girl, of Grange, died at the scene.
A 63-year-old woman from Semaphore Park who was driving the car, and is believed to be the child’s grandmother, was flown to the Royal Adelaide Hospital with serious injuries. Major Crash Investigators charged the woman with causing death by dangerous driving, and causing injury by dangerous driving on Thursday night.
She was bailed to appear in Adelaide Magistrates Court in September.
A second passenger – a six-year-old girl from Grange – was flown to the Women’s and Children’s Hospital, also with serious injuries.
Police say neither survivor is in a life-threatening condition.
The truck was unoccupied at the time of the crash.
Major Crash Investigators want to speak to anyone who may have seen a tyre repair truck stopped on the northern side of the Sturt Highway between 10.30am and 10.43am on Wednesday morning. Anyone who may have captured the truck on dashcam footage is urged to contact Crime Stoppers.
SA Road Transport Association director Steve Shearer said the Bridgestone tyre truck was parked after running out of fuel.
“The truck was parked (and) the driver had run out of fuel,” he said.
“He wasn’t even on the scene when the driver of the car slammed into it.”
The incident occurred on the northbound side of the highway near Job Road.
The Sturt Highway was blocked to all traffic for several hours.
Nearby farm worker Dylan Panagiotou said his grandmother heard the crash from her home on William St.
“I was inside on my computer and she was out in the sunshine enjoying the rays and then she heard a loud bang,” he said.
“She could hear the bang as clear as day.”
Mr Panagiotou rushed to the scene and saw trucks banked up for hundreds of metres.
“I’ve been around here my whole life – I haven’t seen anything like it around here,” Mr Panagiotou said of the crash.
“It’s normally a good stretch of road.”
There have been 53 lives lost on SA roads this year, compared with 65 at the same time in 2019.
A MedSTAR chopper has left the scene of the crash @theTiser pic.twitter.com/WqQMARPfdJ
— Gabriel Polychronis (@G_Polychronis) July 15, 2020
