Man taken to hospital after car smashes into tree in Elanora
A man was taken to hospital with leg injuries after his car smashed through a barrier and crashed into a tree in a suburban city park. WARNING: GRAPHIC IMAGE
Gold Coast
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A man in his 50s has been taken to hospital with leg injuries after crashing his car into a tree in an area labelled a “speedway” by locals.
Ambulance crews were called to the crash at a roundabout on the corner of Guineas Creek Rd and Casuarina Dr in Elanora at 4.25am on Thursday morning.
The man’s car, a white four-wheel drive, crashed through a wooden barrier at Eddie Kornhauser Recreational Reserve, before smashing into a tree.
Queensland Ambulance crews attended the scene and treated the driver before taking him to Gold Coast University Hospital in a stable condition.
Blood spatters were visible on the car on Thursday.
Police are still investigating the circumstances of Thursday morning’s crash. It is unknown if speed was a factor.
The crash was the latest in a number of serious incidents to occur in the area.
On Sunday, November 6, a car smashed into barriers beside a childcare centre at the corner of 19th Ave and Saffron St, while last week a utility box at the scene of this week’s crash was struck by a vehicle, causing damage to a water pipe.
Casuarina Dr resident Charlie Tanti said speeding drivers were a major headache for residents.
“It’s madness with the young ones,” he said.
“They go 80km or more.
“At night you hear it. Somebody is going to get seriously hurt”.
Another local resident, Robyn Stewart, previously told the Bulletin the area had become a “speedway”, while Liz Paull said locals were fed up with the situation.
“We’re sick of it,” Ms Paull said. “We’ve got them all night long. It keeps the whole community awake.”
PREVIOUSLY: STREETS HAVE BECOME ‘SPEEDWAY FOR HOONS’
ELANORA residents say they no longer feel safe leaving their homes at night because streets have become “speedways for hoons”.
Locals are demanding something is done after repeated incidents around Nineteenth Ave, Saffron St, Avocado St and Guineas Creek Rd.
In the latest terrifying incident a car smashed into a crash barrier beside a kindergarten at the Saffron St roundabout in the early hours of Sunday morning, with locals woken by the noise of the impact.
“We’re sick of it,” Liz Paull said. “We’ve got them all night long. It keeps the whole community awake.
“In the middle of the night you can here them going up and down here all the time.”
Police said they were called to the scene of Sunday’s crash at 12.30am. The driver, a 27-year-old man, was taken to Gold Coast University Hospital, while a passenger was seen leaving before officers arrived. Police investigations into the incident are ongoing.
The crash barrier protecting the kindergarten was pushed across a path to its boundary fence by the force of the impact.
Neighbour Robyn Stewart said such terrifying incidents had become all too familiar to locals.
“Nineteenth Avenue is just a speedway for hoons.
“I lay there some nights and I think, ‘any minute it’s going to happen’.
“And last night it did happen.
“My grandson (11) came running into me. He said, ‘they’ve smashed’.
“It frightened him. It was so loud, it sounded like it was coming right through my back fence.”
Ms Stewart said hooning and vehicle theft had not been major issues in the area until relatively recently, but had now become so bad she felt unsafe at night and had recently installed new security doors at her property.
“Police are pretty stretched with everything they have to do around this area,” Ms Stewart said.
“Because of all the thieving and everything that’s going on.
“I just can’t believe what’s happening down this end of the Coast.
“You look at it and you think where are these kids coming from? They’re 13, 14 and 15 years old. And they’re off stealing people’s cars.
“I put the Crimsafe doors on my front door, back door, sliding door, because they’re breaking into places and taking the keys.
“I’ve now resorted to taking my keys to bed with me.
“It’s terrible. You just don’t feel safe in your own suburb now. You feel like, OK, it’s getting dark, get inside and lock up.
“It’s a serious issue and we need to start doing something about it.”
Currumbin MP Laura Gerber said hooning posed a serious danger to the community and she would be working to get CCTV installed in the areas affected.
“Hooning is causing misery for our communities and putting the lives of innocent Queenslanders at risk,” Ms Gerber said.
“This latest incident has happened on the doorstep of a Kindergarten. The danger hooning poses to our community couldn’t be any more real or scary.
“Council and police know that Saffron Street is a hooning hotspot. I’ll be calling for CCTV to be installed and I’ll work with the council and police on deterrent measures.”
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Originally published as Man taken to hospital after car smashes into tree in Elanora
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