Lightview mum’s horror as Mini Cooper smashes through front fence

A Lightsview mother has delivered a stern warning to an out-of-control driver who nearly ran over her family, telling the man locals know his address.

A northern suburbs mother has spoken of the horrifying moments a hit-and-run driver narrowly missed running over her kids, as police continue their search for the culprit.

The man who was driving a Mini Cooper had knocked over a gooseneck light pole on Hampstead Rd, Clearview, around 8pm on Friday.

The crash didn’t stop the driver though.

He then mounted a kerb before smashing into Tara Colledge’s letterbox as she was making her way into the family home with her children after a dinner outing.

Ms Colledge said she was in front of her property with her son’s Harley, 15, Saxon, 10, and 10 month-old Eyaaz, and her friend who also has a 10-year-old child, when she saw the car hurtling towards them.

“We had a lovely night and we were just walking back to my house, and (my friend) was parked out the front and she (had) just gone to the car,” Ms Colledge said.

“The boys had put their scooters in there when we had dinner because her car was closer to the cafe.

Tara Colledge outside her Lightsview’s property where a driver and narrowly avoided hitting her sons Harley and Eyaaz. Picture: Naomi Jellicoe

“Myself, my 15-year-old and the baby were obviously just standing at the fence line waiting for them to come back.”

Ms Colledge said she heard tyres screeching in the distance, but thought it was a hoon driver turning on the street corner.

“I thought here we go … another one, but this one didn’t slow down and then came directly up the gutter and over a tree, stripping the tree of all it’s branches, then drove straight through to my front fence.

“I was standing just inside the gateway, and I was able to reverse the pram up the steps. I got the pram up one step, and I was talking to my friend (as) she was getting the scooters.”

She says the next moments went “so quick,” as she recalls seeing her “15-year-old standing just in front of the fence, and in front of that tree, (with) his back to (the) car”.

“I (saw) the car coming, and was like, ‘Crap! Is he, like, going to straighten?’,” Ms Colledge said.

“All of a sudden I see him start to mount that kerb, and I scream so loud. I’m pretty sure my neighbours hate me right now.

“But, I screamed so loud and my 15-year-old swung around obviously, and as the guy hit the tree, the tree hit my 15 year-old and sends him Scooby Doo across the footpath.

“If I hadn’t screamed that loud, he would have pinned by 15-year-old between the fence and car.”

Tara Colledge outside her Lightsview’s property where a driver and narrowly avoided hitting her sons Harley and Eyaaz. Picture: Naomi Jellicoe

“The car (was) coming towards us, and I thought, ‘Oh surely he’s going to brake,’ (but) he was still putting his foot on the accelerator when he hit the fence, and he pins the front wheels of my pram on the second step,” Ms Colledge said.

“I was trying to pull the pram backwards, but the wheels were still down on the second step. He just kept accelerating and I’m screaming at him like, ‘Stop! Stop!’ and I was trying to pull the pram because the baby was in the pram asleep.

“I lifted the pram and tossed it backwards to get it out from underneath the car, and I was yelling at him, screaming ‘stop stop stop’.”

“He just kept accelerating, then all of a sudden, he hit it in reverse and the car went flying back into the medium strip and he mounted the kerb, then sped off.”

Thankfully no one was injured, but the driver managed to cause a significant amount of damage to the front property.

“The fence is completely knocked over, he ripped a thick brick pile on and it’s laying down, so I can’t get mail out,” Ms Colledge said.

“I’ve been replaying it over, I didn’t sleep until midnight (and) the baby cried for two hours,” she said.

The accident knocked over a set of traffic lights in the CBD. Picture: SA Police

“In my head, I’m like what if? What if I had not screamed, like what if I hadn’t seen it. Five minutes before that, we were all walking across that road and our backs would have been turned.

“He would have cleaned up four kids (and) two adults, and he would have just kept on going because we wouldn’t have seen him coming.”

She said she hoped police could catch the driver quickly.

Police described the vehicle as a black and white (or grey and white) Mini Cooper, with Ms Colledge adding that it’s “a brand new” model of “cream Mini coupe with the silver accents.”

“Ladies, if your man drives a Mini coupe and he came home tonight with a totalled front end, lives in Lightsview or Northgate, he best turn himself in,” she wrote in the post.

“I’d also like to mention if you don’t turn yourself in you will have bigger problems, multiple witnesses seen your drunken (escape) all the way down East Parkway in Lightsview and someone followed you, so your address is known.”

A P-plater has been charged with drink driving and other offences after this car crashed into city traffic lights on Friday night. Picture: SA Police

Payneham South man pinged for Grenfell St crash

In an unrelated incident that occurred hours later in Adelaide’s CBD, a drink driver smashed into a set of traffic lights before blowing three times over the legal limit.

At about midnight, police located a car from a crash at the intersection of Grenfell St and East Terrace, Adelaide.

A 20-year-old man from Payneham South, who was driving with a 28-year-old passenger, recorded a blood alcohol reading of 0.157.

Both the driver and passenger sustained minor injuries from the crash.

The driver was reported for drink driving, aggravated driving without due car and breaching the conditions of his provisional licence.

He was issued with an instant 12-month loss of licence, and will be summonsed to appear in court at a later date.

And in a third accident, 10 people were involved in a crash at Hamley Bridge.

Police allege a Ford ute and a Holden sedan collided on an unsealed road, Light River Rd, at about 10.15pm.

Each car was carrying five occupants, with 17-year-old man from Hamley Bridge driving the Ford ute and a 41-year-old man from Elizabeth Park driving the Holden sedan.

All 10 people were taken to hospital for treatment of non life-threatening injuries.

Both vehicles were extensively damaged and towed from the scene.

Police are continue to investigate the circumstances leading up to the crash.