Woman who died in horror Surfers Paradise escooter crash a 30-year-old foreign national living in area

Fresh details have been revealed about a horror crash involving an escooter and a BMW in Surfers Paradise that claimed the life of a 30-year-old foreign national.

Scene of the accident on Trickett St in Surfers Paradise. Picture: Josh Payten

An escooter rider who died in a horror crash in the heart of Surfers Paradise was a 30-year-old foreign national who police believe was not wearing a helmet at the time of the accident.

Emergency services raced to the Esplanade near the corner of Trickett St at 3.30pm on Thursday after the woman was hit by a BMW while crossing the road on her scooter.

The Queensland Ambulance Service (QAS) bicycle response team which regularly patrols the Surfers Paradise area was on the scene within minutes of the incident.

They immediately commenced work to save the woman, who was in cardiac arrest as a result of suffering multiple traumatic injuries.

Further ambulance units, including the High Acuity Response Unit, were quickly on scene.

The woman, who the Bulletin understands was a foreign national who had been living in Surfers Paradise, was rushed to Gold Coast University Hospital. However she died there shortly after arriving.

The 38-year-old driver of the BMW was also taken to hospital suffering from shock. He passed a mandatory breath test without issue.

A BMW involved at the accident pictured at the scene. Picture: Ashleigh Jansen.

The woman’s scooter was seen lying on the road near police evidence markers. Picture: Ashleigh Jansen.

Acting Chief Superintendent Peter Miles said police had secured CCTV footage showing the incident, but were still appealing to members of the public who may have dashcam footage to come forward.

“It was a tragic situation,” he said. “She did make it to hospital but unfortunately, tragically passed away.

“Investigations are being carried out by our forensic crash unit and I believe most of that incident was caught on City CCTV.

“We are appealing to members of the public, if they’ve got any information to add to that, to come forward and assist with preparing our documentation for the coroner and with our investigation.”

The scene of the accident. Picture: Danijela Repic/Facebook

QAS Senior Operations Supervisor Cary Strong, who was among the ambulance team at the scene, said the woman had suffered multiple serious injuries.

“She had what we classify as multi-system trauma, so she had head trauma, abdominal, chest. She was in cardiac arrest because of those injuries, but she also had limb injuries,” Mr Strong said.

Mr Strong said the service’s Bicycle Response Team reached the scene of the accident within minutes of emergency services being alerted at 3.31pm.

“So their (the bicycle response team) main priority was to maintain her airway and continue with the CPR until such time as we got more resources there, which was myself and the other supervisor about two minutes later, and then we just run our protocols. So we’ll do whatever we can to basically maintain her airway, keep the cardiac compressions going and then manage any open trauma that’s presented to us,” he said.

The woman's belongings were left strewn on the side of the road. Picture: Ashleigh Jansen.

Mr Strong said accidents involving escooters had become increasingly common on the Gold Coast.

“We’ve got numerous ones occurring. We’ve got stuff from minor injuries – your abrasions, your falls, that type of stuff – all the way through to this,” he said.

“That’s why we keep going out to the public and give them safety messages about what to do to first of all protect yourself, but in other cases how to protect pedestrians and other road users while on a motorised scooter.”

Police investigators working at the scene. Picture: Ashleigh Jansen.

Speaking at Helensvale on Friday Minister for Transport, Main Roads and Digital Services Bart Mellish said the number of escooter accidents on Queensland roads was “really tragic”.

“Any death on our roads is a tragic one and my heart goes out to those involved, to friends, family, or people who’ve witnessed these incidents,” he said.

Minister for Transport and Main Roads Bart Mellish pictured at Helensvale on Friday. Picture: Glenn Hampson.

“The road toll is too high in Queensland - we are sitting at about 14 more people that have lost their lives (than this time last year), and that’s not good enough.

“I want to see motorists abiding by the road rules and also people on escooters taking the right safety precautions, operating in a safe way to make sure that we have a safe environment for everyone.”

Scene of the accident at The Esplanade in Surfers Paradise. Picture: Ashleigh Jansen.

Scene of the accident at The Esplanade in Surfers Paradise. Picture: Ashleigh Jansen.

The BMW M3 involved in the accident was badly damaged in the crash, with its windscreen smashed and number plate left hanging.

Personal belongings of the victim could be seen sprawled across the gutter 20m from the damaged vehicle.

The woman’s escooter had been split in half, its motorised base across the other side of the road.

Surfers Paradise resident Leo Rodino said he heard what sounded like an “explosion” at the time of the incident.

“I was in my apartment and I heard shots like an explosion,” he said.

“It must have been the moment he hit the girl. I came out for a walk and saw the police and knew something was going on.”

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