Morning carnage on roads

By Dion Teasdale
THE ARRIVAL of summer was marked by a spate of horror collisions on Yarra Valley roads .
Four major collisions within 75 minutes tested emergency services and resulted in seven people being seriously injured.
The collisions took place between 9.15am and 10.3am on Thursday, 1 December and included crashes on both the Maroondah and Warburton highways.
Two people from separate collisions were airlifted to the Alfred Hospital with major injuries, and five people were transferred to the Maroondah Hospital.
The first crash, a head-on collision between two cars, took place at about 9.15am on the corner of Wood Point Road and Riverside Drive in East Warburton.
A woman in her 60s was trapped for an hour. She sustained serious leg injuries and was airlifted to the Alfred Hospital.
The second, another head-on collision involving two cars, was at about 9.35am at the corner of Maroondah Highway and Hill Road, Coldstream.
A women in her 80s was airlifted to the Alfred in a serious but stable condition with chest injuries and a fractured ankle.
The third collision took place near the corner of Maroondah Highway and Church Street in Healesville, shortly after 10.20am.
A truck and two cars collided after a pedestrian wearing runners with in-built wheels lost control.
Sergeant Tony Van Gorp from Healesville Police said the pedestrian ended up in the path of traffic, causing motorists to brake suddenly.
“A truck travelling east was unable to stop and crashed into the rear of a green Nissan sedan and a blue Mitsubishi sedan heading in the same direction,” he said.
An 85-year-old Healesville man, the driver of the Nissan, was taken to Maroondah Hospital with minor injuries and traffic in the town was disrupted for an hour.
The fourth collision, another two-car crash, was at the corner of Coldstream West and Victoria roads, in Coldstream, about 10.30am.
A woman in her 50s was transported to Maroondah Hospital with minor injuries to her arm and hip.
Less than two hours later a pedestrian was hit by a car near the corner of the Warburton Highway and Healesville-Koo Wee Rup Road in Woori Yallock.
A man in his mid-30s sustained fractures to his foot and lower leg and was taken to Maroondah Hospital in a stable condition.
Acting Sergeant Graeme Rust of the Yarra Ranges Traffic Management Unit (TMU) said it was lucky no one was killed.
“This is a timely reminder that a motor vehicle can be a lethal weapon. It reinforces that when you get behind the wheel you need to be aware of everything around you.”