By Sally Rawsthorne
Seven people have died in incidents on the state’s roads this week, with five dying in a 12-hour period on Friday night, including two people who were out of their cars swapping details after a minor collision on the Anzac Bridge.
A 25-year-old woman from inner Sydney and a 38-year-old man from the city’s south-west were exchanging details after what police deemed a “relatively minor” crash on the bridge just before midnight on Friday.
The crash on the Anzac Bridge late on Friday night.Credit: Nine News
“Another two vehicles have become involved in that stationary collision. The way those vehicles have collided into the stationary cars has impacted the two pedestrians on the road exchanging details and those people have been killed,” Traffic and Highway Patrol Command’s Superintendent Robert Toynton told reporters on Saturday.
The driver of one vehicle, a taxi, was taken to Sydney Eye Hospital for mandatory testing, while the driver of the other car, a Holden Captiva, was taken to Royal Prince Alfred Hospital for treatment and mandatory testing.
He was released from hospital on Saturday morning.
An investigation run by specialist officers from the Crash Investigation Unit will focus on what the second two vehicles were doing before the collision. “Was speed a factor? Was alcohol and drugs a factor,” Toynton said.
“[Another] focal point of the investigation will be the second two vehicles, where were the two victims? Where were they standing?”
Detectives are appealing for anyone with dashcam vision, particularly motorists driving westbound between 11.45pm and 11.55pm to provide it, offering investigators an opportunity to see the two motorists’ “driving behaviours” in the leadup to the crash, said Toynton.
Police will also seek to procure dashcam vision from the taxi and the data from inside the Captiva.
A man also died around 3.15am on Saturday morning when his van hit a wall at the intersection of Warringah Road and Forest Way at Frenchs Forest. He was trapped in the wreckage and unable to be revived.
Detectives are appealing for anyone with dashcam vision, particularly motorists driving westbound on the Anzac Bridge between 11.45pm and 11.55pm.Credit: Nine News
Elsewhere in the state, a 70-year-old woman died in a crash in Goulburn around 6pm on Friday night when the grey Suzuki she was driving collided with a Hilux carrying two men.
She was airlifted to Canberra Hospital in a critical condition, where she died. Her passenger, a 38-year-old man, was taken to the same hospital with minor injuries.
Two men in the ute, aged 44 and 30, were not injured, and the older man was taken to Goulburn Hospital for mandatory testing.
On the state’s South Coast, a 54-year-old on a motorbike died when his motorbike crashed near Moruya around 8pm.
“It’s absolutely tragic,” Toynton said. “There are [seven] people that aren’t at family Christmas tables this year.”
On Friday afternoon, three other people were hospitalised in a crash on the M4 that involved 18 other people and eight vehicles including a truck.
“A total of 21 people were assessed on the scene by NSW Ambulance paramedics with three – two men and a woman – taken to Westmead Hospital for further assessment,” police said.
Ten of those requiring assessment were school children travelling in a Toyota HiAce van.
The driver of the truck, a 46-year-old man, was taken to Blacktown Hospital for mandatory testing.
It comes after a 17-year-old schoolboy, Calvin Wijeweera, was fatally struck by car driven by a 90-year-old woman as it mounted the kerb at Carlingford on Thursday in a crash that also injured another 17-year-old Carlingford High School student.
On Thursday afternoon, a motorcyclist was killed when he was struck by an allegedly stolen ute at Fennell Bay near Newcastle.
“Officers were patrolling Main Road at Toronto when they saw a ute which had been reported stolen from Wangi that afternoon,” police said in a statement on Friday.
Police say the man was directed to stop but allegedly failed to do so; police followed the vehicle to Fennell Bay where they were “alerted to a crash involving the same vehicle, where it hit a motorcyclist”.
“The ute continued onto the footpath and through the front fence of a home before stopping when it became jammed between the fence and house. The driver then allegedly left the scene after stealing a second vehicle,” police said.
The alleged driver of the ute, 33-year-old Benjamin Christopher Koosmen, was on Friday charged with nine offences including dangerous driving occasioning death, negligent driving occasioning death, disqualified driving and failing to stop and render assistance.
He was refused bail at the Newcastle Bail Court on Saturday, and is due to appear at the Toronto Local Court on Monday.
Police are begging motorists not to speed, drink and drive, take drugs and drive or become inattentive in the first normal lead-up to Christmas in several years.
“Everything in the past 12 hours is what I’d call avoidable road trauma,” Toynton said.
Our Breaking News Alert will notify you of significant breaking news when it happens. Get it here.