By Callum Ludwig
Seville resident Trish was sitting in her house on an otherwise quiet Sunday night when she was stunned by an almighty crash.
It was about 9.45pm and she said she initially thought a large tree had fallen nearby.
“I went round and couldn’t see any damage to y house before looking out the back window and I could see a car with a woman in it right near my back laundry,” she said.
“At first I thought it came off Warburton Highway but that just didn’t make sense. It just appeared out of nowhere and was so loud, I had the TV volume up and it even drowned out that.”
Allegedly, a driver with a Blood Alcohol Concentration (BAC) of 0.154, three times over the legal limit, had crashed through the front deck, car port, living room and rear deck of the home. The nature of the crash appears to indicate the driver came from Drummonds Road, across the highway.
Trish said her neighbours are being looked after by insurers, but of course, the family are pretty stressed.
“It will probably take at least six months to get it redone. In the last 12 months, they’d just finished fixing things up there as well and now it’s all gone. It’s a tragedy really,” she said.
“It’s very lucky that no one was hurt, the baby or their dog and particularly the driver. She’s got someone looking after her up there that’s for sure.”
The 35-year-old Clayton woman driving the vehicle had her license suspended immediately and she is expected to be charged with drink driving in the near future.
7 vehicles from Seville and Wandin Fire Brigades assisted Victoria Police at the scene, with Wandin Fire brigade utilising hydraulic tools to rescue the driver while Seville Fire Brigade propped the roof up and provided lighting.
Trish said there are a couple of concerns for the highway that could have also been factors in the crash.
“There is no lighting along this stretch of the highway, so it gets very dark at night and if you are trying to find houses it’s almost impossible. For a major highway, it’s pretty unusual. This area has really grown and we need the infrastructure to go with it, even though we don’t want to lose the small-town feel,” she said.
“There are often cars and bikes that come flying up past here really fast as well, it’s been in my mind before that something could happen, perhaps even like this.”
