By Kath Gannaway
POLICE have likened the scene of a head-on collision in Chum Creek last week to a Transport Accident Commission (TAC) advertisement.
“There were emergency workers everywhere, the police chopper was landing and there were injured people everywhere,” Leading Senior Constable Gary Masterman of Lilydale Police told the Mail.
“The young driver was beside himself with grief … living his own TAC nightmare.”
The collision happened on Wednesday, 8 October, just before 6.30am on the Healesville-Kinglake Road.
Police said a blue Holden Commodore sedan heading north veered over the white line on a slight bend and struck a white Mazda utility travelling south.
The driver of the Holden, an 18-year-old Healesville man was uninjured, but three female passengers who were in the back seat were injured.
Healesville SES volunteers worked for some time to release the 49-year-old driver of the Mazda who was trapped in the vehicle.
All the injured were from Healesville.
Ambulances from Healesville, Lilydale, Coldstream and Ringwood rushed to the scene and ambulance helicopters transported people from the accident scene and from the Don Road helipad.
Ambulance spokesman Paul Bentley said a 49-year-old man suffered serious chest and other injuuries.
He was treated at the scene and taken to The Alfred hospital in a critical condition.
A 22-year-old woman and an 18-year-old woman were taken to the Royal Melbourne, and a 19-year-old woman was taken to The Alfred. All sustained serious injuries.
Sen Const Masterman said the young people were returning from a night out in the city.
He said the person who drove home from the city had been dropped off in Chum Creek just minutes earlier, and the owner, a P-plate driver, took over the driving.
He said the smash which happened less than a kilometre further on was the result of a combination of alcohol and a lack of attention.
“He had a car full of people and he was distracted. There is no suggestion of speed or hooning … he’s lucky, no one was killed,” Sen Const Masterman said.
He said the P-plate driver would be charged with four counts of negligently causing serious injury.
The message for other drivers, he said, was obvious.
“Don’t drink and drive, particularly when you’re a P-plater on zero-alcohol, is the obvious message, and watch where you’re going.”
Chum Creek photographer Cora Zon was astounded to see the air ambulance landing on the roadway at the scene.
She said the skill of the pilot, landing in a confined space was amazing.
Healesville SES officer Geoff Stott added his praise.
“He circled and came just by the mill and hovered sideways before landing. It was a brilliant bit of flying,” he said.
Pilot Roger Puehl of the Police Air Wing said landing on site was not always possible, but in this case with multiple injuries, it was an option they were able to take advantage of.
“The golden hour of getting a patient from an accident scene to the hospital is critical. If there’s a chance a helicopter can be squeezed into a confined area to get the patient to hospital swiftly then we’ll take that opportunity,” he said.
“It’s important to get the paramedics on the ground as quickly as possible.”
He said the patient, one of the young women, was in surgery within 20 minutes of take off.
He praised his crewmen, police observer Bryan Norman and paramedic Tim Styer, who he said had helped guide him in.
