Stawell woman, 64, released from hospital after Navarre crash
THE DRIVER of a car that T-boned another vehicle in regional Victoria, claiming the lives of four grandmothers, has been released from hospital.
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THE DRIVER of a car that T-boned another vehicle in regional Victoria, claiming the lives of four grandmothers, has been released from hospital.
The Stawell woman, 64, is the sole survivor of the horror smash in Navarre on Saturday night.
She was taken to hospital with non-life threatening injuries that evening.
Police are yet to interview the woman over the incident.
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Two of the four friends killed held hands as they died from internal injuries after spending the day together linedancing.
Elaine Middleton, Claudia Jackson, Tess Ely and Dianne Barr were heading home after a line dancing event in St Arnaud.
The women who would “travel around the earth” to dance, aged between 64 and 75, all died at the scene.
Assistant Commissioner Doug Fryer told reporters that the sight of the driver holding her passenger’s hand at the crash scene would “haunt me for some time”.
“The elderly women had no chance whatsoever, there was no opportunity to take evasive action,” he said.
Witnesses said the white Kia was hit with such force it was pushed off the road and through a fence into a nearby front yard.
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Heywood woman Dianne Barr was remembered as a “happy go lucky lady” by her husband Gavin Barr.
The couple were to celebrate their 39th wedding anniversary this week.
“I’m just lost for words right now ... she was such a happy go lucky lady,” an emotional Mr Barr said.
The grieving husband said Mrs Barr was well known around Heywood and “wouldn’t have an enemy in the town”.
The couple ran a thriving spare parts business, which Mr Barr said kept them together “24/7”.
“She loved her dancing and I encouraged her to go out and meet people so she could have a social life,” he said.
The couple has two sons and two granddaughters.
NEIGHBOUR FIRST ON SCENE OF HORROR SMASH
Debborah Standfield was sitting on her veranda when the carnage unfolded.
“I could see both cars getting closer, the other driver wasn’t slowing down towards the stop sign and she was travelling at high speed — I thought ‘oh God, here’s a crash about to happen’,” she said.
“It went into slow motion as it happened, I saw the white car just fly through the air and land in our front yard.”
“It was just chaos, it was horrible.”
Mrs Standfield’s husband Michael, a former police officer, rushed to the scene to try to revive the victims.
“It was a very sad state of affairs,” Mr Standfield said.
“I was on the scene within 10 seconds and there were three already gone by that stage in the one car and the driver was in a very sad state, she didn’t last long.”
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Word quickly spread to a nearby football club where dozens of locals had gathered for an event, according to Mrs Standfield.
Within minutes the crash site was full of volunteers trying to save the victims.
Mrs Standfield said the driver of the other car was in “a severe state of shock”.
“I took her inside and sat her down and phoned her family,” she said.
NAVARRE ROAD NOTORIOUS FOR NEAR-MISSES
Mr Standfield said the intersection was notorious for near-misses.
“She just missed the intersection, a few cars do it,” he said.
“It needs ripple strips, big time ... there’s plenty of signage there, but for some reason they don’t take any notice.”
Most of the wreckage had been cleared on Sunday morning with small pieces of debris left strewn across the side of the road.
Dance teacher and friend Linda Rook, who organised the Cactus Moon Linedancing event, said she had known the four women for more than 23 years.
“They were passionate, they loved travelling around Victoria and they were always the first ones (to volunteer) their cars,” she said.
Ms Rook spent Sunday morning counselling other shell-shocked dancers, who gathered at Avoca to come to terms with the loss.
“They had a wonderful day, they enjoyed their dancing, and now they are dead — it’s unbelievable,” Ms Rook said.
“It really is a reminder to enjoy life while you can.
“To lose four in one foul swoop it is very hard to get your head around,” she told AAP on Sunday.
“They are full of fun. Always helped when needed. Fabulous, fabulous women ... just great people who loved their line dancing.”
She said it was “too soon” to decide whether the annual event would be held again.
LINE DANCING COMMUNITY MOURNS WOMEN
Ms Rook said there had been an outpouring of support from the line dancing community.
Callers from interstate, New Zealand and the UK had left condolence messages with the Hamilton Bootscooters.
A Tamworth line dancing club reportedly observed a minute’s silence this morning out of respect for the dead.
“It’s just devastated the community ... We are a big family that shares a common joy,” Ms Rook said.
Several stunned members of the victims’ line dancing club gathered at the crash site to remember their friends.
“I’ve known these girls for years, they were quintessential country women,” said one mourner.
The Herald Sun understands the four victims were members of the Hamilton Boot Scooters club and had decided to leave early from an interclub workshop and social event involving at least 100 dancers.
The organisers of Cactus Moon Linedancing, believed to be running the workshop the women were attending, last night released a statement on their Facebook page.
“It is with a heavy heart we must tell you that four of our linedancing family senselessly and tragically lost their lives after dancing with us at St Arnaud on Saturday,” the post read.
“This is truly heartbreaking for everyone and we extend our sympathy to their loved ones and to their friends where they dance at Hamilton.”
Another two people died overnight in two other accidents in Victoria.
In Bright, a man died on the Great Alpine Road when his car hit a tree while another man died early this morning on South Mountain Road at Heathcote Junction.
In the Navarre incident, Victoria Police Assistant Commissioner Doug Fryer said it was believed a vehicle “T-boned’’ the small Kia vehicle the women were travelling in.
“There is nothing they could have done to avoid being hit,” he said.
“I suppose the message is we have four women, grandmothers, wives, having a great time.
“And now we’ve got four death messages being delivered.”
He said police will be investigating whether high speed was a factor.
“We’ve investigating her speed and we’ve taken blood,” he said.
“This has been a horrendous day,
“We had been tracking so well. We lost 10 in all of April and then we’ve lost eight in the past five days.”
“Please let this be a timely reminder that it happens this easily when people don’t pay attention and you’re going to have a whole community, a number of communities grieving over this fatal.”
Police understand a vehicle travelling southbound on Ararat-St Arnaud Rd collided with another vehicle travelling west on Bains Rd. They believe the driver ran through a stop sign before the accident.
The driver was on Saturday night having her blood tested and was in police custody.
“This sort of tragedy hopefully wakes up the rest of the community,” he said.
“A needless death need not happen with a little more care and attention while driving.’’
The intersection is 54km from Ararat and 39km from Stawell and St Arnaud in central-western Victoria.
The six deaths bring the road toll for Victoria to 78 for 2018 to date.
Victoria Police is urging drivers to stay safe on the roads following another two deaths in separate crashes on Victoria’s roads earlier on Saturday.
A motorcycle and a bus collided at Preston about 2pm at the corner of High and Miller streets.
The rider, a 58-year-old man from the Basin, was taken to hospital but died.
In a separate incident at Dixons Creek just before 3.30am on Saturday, a woman was killed and another left fighting for life when their car crashed down an embankment.
The pair was travelling north along the Melba Highway and the female passenger died at the scene.
The driver was flown to hospital in a critical condition.
It’s understood the vehicle lost control on a section of road just before roadworks and it is not yet known if drugs or alcohol were a factor.