‘Sheer stupidity’

By Kath Gannaway
Police Major Collision Investigation Unit Acting Sergeant Shane Miles was making no bones about the frustration of having to “yet again” count the cost of carnage on Victoria’s highways.
The ambulances were gone and MCIU Acting Sgt Miles and his team were down to the task of taking measurements and photographs as they waited for the coroner at the scene of a fatal collision at Coldstream on Thursday, 20 September.
A 24-year-old Glen Waverley man died following the high-impact head-on collision just east of Yeringberg Creek on Maroondah Highway 6.10am.
The road was wet and it was dark.
The man was a passenger in a Mitsubishi Lancer sedan, driven by a 25-year-old man, also from the metropolitan area. He was airlifted to The Alfred hospital in a critical condition.
The Lancer was travelling towards Melbourne when it collided with a 4WD driven by a 69-year-old Chum Creek man which was heading towards Healesville.
The scene, with the crushed remains of the Lancer leaving police and emergency workers wondering how anyone survived, was horrific.
“It’s just another waste of life,” Acting Sgt Miles said.
He told the Mail he spoke at the scene with the driver of the 4WD, who was later taken to The Alfred hospital with minor injuries.
“He was coming up the hill and saw the other car move back in behind (another car), the driver’s lost control and came back out and he couldn’t do anything about it,” Sgt Miles said.
The highway was blocked for several hours while the MCIU carried out their investigations at the scene.
Those investigations are continuing.
The death at Coldstream brought the Victorian road toll to 224 compared with 207 last year.