King’s Birthday long weekend claims 14 lives on state’s roads

It was a horrific King’s Birthday weekend on one Australian state’s roads, with 14 lives lost despite stringent police safety operations.

The Hunter region bus crash, which claimed 10 lives, brought NSW’s June long weekend to a tragic end, with 14 people dying on the state’s roads across four days.

While most states and territories observed the country’s first King’s Birthday public holiday in 70 years, only NSW and the ACT enacted double demerit points over the long weekend.

Despite NSW’s four-day operation targeting driving under the influence of drugs or alcohol, fatigue, mobile phone use and failure to wear seatbelts or helmets, there were 299 major crashes on the state’s roads.

Police responded to four fatal crashes aside from the Hunter coach tragedy, the first of which happened on Friday, June 9 when a woman died at Molong.

Police responded to four fatal crashes across the state, excluding the Hunter region coach incident. Picture: NCA NewsWire / Gaye Gerard

On Saturday, June 10 a motorcyclist died at Glebe and on Sunday, June 11 a male driver died in a single vehicle crash at Mount Victoria, as well as a female pedestrian at a crash in Roseville.

Across the weekend NSW Police conducted 167,453 breath tests and found 279 incidences of Prescribed Concentration of Alcohol (PCA).

Commander of Traffic and Highway Patrol Command, Acting Assistant Commissioner David Waddell, said while the long weekend operation had concluded, police would “continue to target inappropriate driving”.

Police were left in shock after responding to two separate incidents where both drivers were allegedly detected drink driving twice in less than 24 hours.

Double demerits were in place across NSW and the ACT for offences such as speeding. Picture: NewsWire / Monique Harmer

The first incident came just before 9pm on Friday when a 27-year-old male driver was stopped on Belgrave St, Mittagong, and later blew an alleged reading of 0.162.

Despite being charged with high range PCA and driving while disqualified, he was stopped the following day at around 4.30pm on Railway Tce in Willow Vale, where he was taken to a police station and returned an alleged reading of 0.195.

Additional charges were laid and the man was refused bail overnight, later appearing before Wollongong Local Court where he was again refused bail to appear at Moss Vale Local Court on Tuesday.

In two separate incidents across the long weekend, two drivers were caught driving under the influence of alcohol twice in 24 hours. Picture: NCA NewsWire / Ian Currie

The second incident came after a 48-year-old female driver returned a positive roadside breath test on the Central Coast Hwy at Bateau Bay on Saturday, June 10, later blowing an alleged reading of 0.191 at a police station.

She was charged with high range PCA and had her licence suspended, before police stopped her the following day at around 10.40pm, also on the Central Coast Hwy.

Additional charges were laid against her later at the police station where she recorded an alleged reading of 0.152, causing police to impound her vehicle for three months.

She will appear before Wyong Local Court on Monday, July 3.

Just after 11.30pm on Sunday a coach rolled on Wine Country Drive near the Hunter Expressway off ramp at Greta, carrying 36 passengers who had attended a wedding earlier that day.

Ten passengers died and 25 were hospitalised. Picture: NCA NewsWire / Christian Gilles

Despite the efforts of a large-scale emergency response, 10 passengers died, while 25 were taken to hospital via helicopter or road.

The 58-year-old male driver of the bus, Brett Button, was taken to hospital under police guard and was later charged with multiple driving offences, including 10 counts of dangerous driving occasioning death.

Brett Button’s lawyer, Chris O'Brian, pictured leaving Cessnock Local Court. Picture: NCA NewsWire / Damian Shaw

Button pictured walking out of Cessnock Police Station after being granted bail. Picture: NCA NewsWire / Damian Shaw

He was refused bail to appear at Cessnock Local Court on Tuesday, where he was granted conditional bail to appear before Newcastle Local Court on Wednesday, August 9.

Acting Assistant Commissioner Waddell said “while the driver has been charged, investigations are still ongoing” as tributes have begun to flow for the first of the victims to be identified.