Four dead and several injured as horror long weekend on South Australia’s roads continues
A young Aldinga Beach man has become the fourth person to die in a horror long weekend on our roads.
Police & Courts
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Police have implored South Australians to obey the road rules and get home safely from the long weekend, which has seen four people killed and six others injured.
The latest crash came just before 10pm on Sunday, when an 18-year-old man driving a Toyota Corolla crashed into a tree on Pages Flat Road at Myponga.
The man, of Aldinga Beach, was the only occupant of the car and he died at the scene.
12.15PM SATURDAY: A 23-year-old man from the Australian Capital Territory and a 57-year-old woman from Para Vista died in a horrific crash involving a B-double truck and a Ford ute on the Stuart Highway in the Far North. The 49-year-old truck driver is in a critical condition.
5.50PM SATURDAY: A 63-year-old South-East man sustained life-threatening injuries in a motorbike crash on a back road at Kongorong, outside Mount Gambier.
6PM SATURDAY: A 26-year-old Campbelltown man died in a ute rollover on a private property at Lindley, near Morgan in the Riverland. Three other men were flown to hospital in Adelaide and are expected to survive.
10PM SUNDAY: An 18-year-old man from Aldinga Beach died in a single-vehicle crash at Myponga.
SERIES OF TRAGEDIES
Earlier in the weekend, preliminary investigations confirmed an Adelaide man who died when he was thrown from an utility in the Riverland on Saturday was not wearing a seatbelt.
Police also have determined a motorcyclist who suffered serious head injuries on a track beside a road near Mount Gambier was not wearing a helmet.
Meanwhile, officers dispatched to a double fatal involving a truck and ute which collided on the Stuart Highway in the state’s Far North on Saturday reported catastrophic damage to a bridge.
Plastic supports under the bridge at Wirraminna, between Pimba and Glendambo, melted when a large fire started, seriously burning the 49-year-old Adelaide driver of the B-double truck.
His female passenger, a 57-year-old woman from Para Vista, and the driver of the ute, a 23-year-old from the Australian Capital Territory, died at the scene.
SA Police Assistant Commissioner of State Operations, Ian Parrott, told a media conference on Sunday there was “carnage everywhere” following the crash.
“That crash was absolutely horrific,” he said.
“Both vehicles were incinerated and the damage to the bridge is catastrophic.”
Asst Comm Parrott said it was vital South Australians avoided the “fatal five” factors which contributed to death and injury on the roads.
These included speeding, drink driving, taking drugs, not wearing seatbelts and driving while fatigued.
“In the past two days we have had tragic situations on our roads, from the Far North to the Riverland down to the South East,” he said.
“There are at least four families out there, and probably more this weekend, who now have life-changing circumstances because of lives lost or serious injuries on our roads which, hopefully, most of which could have been preventable,” he said.
Asst Comm Parrott said investigations into the accident at Wirraminna would examine whether fatigue or speed was involved.
Asst Comm Parrott said police sent to Morgan where the ute rolled on private property on Saturday evening had found the passenger who died, a 26-year-old man from Campbelltown, was not wearing a seatbelt.
“Major Crash investigators are also determining what other factors were at play, whether it was speed or alcohol or drugs,” he said.
The driver of the ute, a 29-year-old Athelstone man, and two other passengers, a 34-year-old Tanunda man and a 29-year-old Klemzig man, were flown to Adelaide with non-life threatening injuries.
Another man sustained life-threatening injuries after crashing his motorcycle at Kongorong, outside of Mount Gambier, in the state’s South East.
The 63-year-old man crashed on an unnamed access road off Bannisters Road at about 5.50pm on Saturday. He was taken to the Mount Gambier Hospital for treatment.
“We understand from the initial investigations that the man was not wearing a motorcycle helmet,” said Asst Comm Parrott.
“A simple thing like wearing a motorcycle helmet can potentially save your life.”
Meanwhile, a car ended up in a creek after running off Montacute Road at Montacute.
CFS crews were called to the scene, after the driver had to swerve to miss a collision between a car and a cyclist and ended up in Fifth Creek. The cyclist has been taken to hospital.
Over the past five years, the March long weekend has seen six lives lost on South Australian roads, with five of those being regional or rural.
Meanwhile, a Blair Athol man will face court on Tuesday charged over a hit-run crash at Thebarton that left a man with serious injuries.
Police said they believed the incident on Murray Street about noon on Saturday was sparked by an altercation outside of a scrap metal yard.
A pedestrian, 51, was taken to the Royal Adelaide Hospital.
There have been 22 lives lost on SA roads this year, compared to 18 at this time last year.
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