A woman is dead and a child has been seriously injured after an elderly driver lost control of her car and hit a family walking along the footpath from behind.
The Toyota Yaris, driven by the 91-year-old woman, mounted the footpath on Coleman Road at Wantirna South, in Melbourne’s east shortly before 12.30pm on Thursday.
Three people from the same family – the woman, 59, a man, 60, and a two-year-old boy were walking along the footpath in the same direction as the car when they were hit.
The woman died at the scene.
The man is fighting for his life in The Alfred Hospital.
The little boy was rushed to the Royal Melbourne Children’s Hospital with life-threatening injuries but is now in a stable condition, Sunrise reported on Friday morning.
Victoria Police are yet to confirm the relationship between the victims but it’s believed they were related.
It’s understood the driver collided with a street sign and struck the pedestrians before her car ploughed through a fence and came to a stop near a children’s playground.
A woman is dead and two others were seriously injured after being hit by a car while walking on the footpath
The car travelled for 200m after hitting the trio before crashing through a fence
‘It came from behind,’ Superintendent Justin Goldsmith told reporters.
‘It looks like it’s (lost control) about 40m or 50m before the collision with the people who were walking on the other side of that road.’
‘No one was hit at the park thankfully.’
The elderly driver escaped with minor scratches and was taken to hospital for assessment and blood testing.
Police are yet to interview the woman, who was ‘terribly shaken’.
Supt Goldsmith said it was too early to say whether the driver had suffered a medical episode when she lost control.
Crash investigators will examine whether speed was a contributing factor.
‘That will be subject to the investigation, but it is downhill section of road, so if there has been a lack of control to some degree there is a possibility the car would have picked up speed as it’s driven further down Coleman Road,’ Supt Goldsmith said.
The crash happened during the first week of Victorian school holidays and brought the state’s road toll to 14 in the last week.
‘We’re facing a horrific month for road trauma,’ Supt Goldsmith said.
The state has recorded a number of deadly crashes involving out-of-control vehicles in recent years.
The crash happened during the first week of Victorian school holidays, bringing the state’s road toll to 14 in the last seven days
In November, a kindergarten worker and a three-year-old boy was injured when a runaway truck smashed through the gate of Macedon Ranges Montessori Preschool’s playground.
Two weeks earlier, an 11-year-old boy was killed and four other students injured when an SUV crashed through a fence at Auburn South Primary School in Melbourne’s east.
Five people were killed and six injured in November 2023 when a diabetic driver passed out behind the wheel and crashed into patrons seated outside the Royal Daylesford Hotel.
The driver was charged but the allegations were ultimately struck out after a magistrate found there was not enough evidence to support a conviction.
