Police plead for safer driving after multiple WA crashes including deaths of two women
By Alex Condon
Commander Mike Bell of WA Police’s Road Policing Command has urged caution on the state’s roads following several crashes this weekend, including the deaths of two women in Neergabby.
Other crashes have included the deaths of three men in Carlisle on Saturday morning, an elderly woman dying in hospital after a crash at Alexander Heights on Saturday and a car crashing into a Nando’s restaurant at Mount Lawley – which fortunately didn’t involve any deaths or major injuries.
The Neergabby crash occurred on Indian Ocean Drive about 5pm Saturday, involving two Indonesian women in a white Honda Accord and a silver Jeep Cherokee containing at least three people.
Two women have been killed in a horrific road tragedy on Indian Ocean Road.Credit: Unknown/NIGHT NEWS
The 23-year-old female driver and 31-year-old female passenger of the Accord died at the scene. The tragedy will now bring the 2024 state road toll to 146 deaths.
“Here we are back again after my plea yesterday for drivers to slow down and drive to the conditions,” Bell said.
“Yesterday, at 5 o’clock, we had a car-versus-car head-on [collision] on Indian Ocean Drive ... where a 23- and a 31-year-old female crossed the wrong side of the road and drove head on into another vehicle, which was being driven by two females and a child.
“They [the occupants of the Cherokee], thankfully, have survived.”
Later on Saturday, a 25-year-old man was left in a serious condition after a serious single-vehicle crash in Wongamine, when his silver Toyota Echo left Goomalling-Toodyay Road and collided with a tree about 11.10pm.
“We suspect alcohol and speed will play a factor in that one, but he’s still under investigation and still early stages,” Bell said.
About 4:45pm on Saturday, an 83-year-old female driver of a grey Toyota Corolla reportedly suffered a medical episode and collided with another vehicle on Adria Road at Alexander Heights.
She was treated at the scene by St John Ambulance and taken to Sir Charles Gardiner Hospital, where she sadly later died.
Drive-thru at Nando’s? Fortunately no one was seriously injured in the crash.Credit: Bell Tower Times
About 8.20pm on Saturday, a silver Honda sedan and a grey Mitsubishi Triton collided at the intersection of Beaufort and Vincent streets in Mount Lawley, with the Honda then accelerating and crashing through the front of a Nando’s.
The driver of the Honda, a 27-year-old man, and two men inside the venue sustained minor injuries. The 19-year-old male driver of the Mitsubishi was uninjured.
Bell said his frustration over dangerous driving was echoed by Daniel Campo, whose son Nick died in a crash in North Lake in July.
“Last night I had a telephone conversation from Daniel Campo, who many people will remember 14 weeks ago his son passed away.
A Honda sedan crashed into a Nando’s at Mount Lawley on Saturday night.Credit: Bell Tower Times
“Mr Campo was very distressed because the events of yesterday morning with the multiple fatal crash with the young men [in Carlisle] retraumatised him.
“And he’s just exasperated that his message of youth slowing down and driving to the conditions ... is just not getting through.
“And I can just understand his frustration because I’ve been doing it a lot longer than 14 weeks and I’m feeling the same way.”