By Tanya Steele
The Easter break has been a busy time for emergency services with a number of accidents occurring in the area.
Maroondah Highway in Coldstream and Melba Highway in Yering have both been host to a number of incidents on the roads in the last two weeks.
Most recently, a major collision occurred at 7.30pm on 12 April heading north from the intersection of Maroondah and Melba Highway in Coldstream.
A young male driver attempted to overtake and clipped the back of another vehicle heading in the opposite direction.
The accident resulted in a three car collision, fortunately there were no major injuries.
The driver was later apprehended by police of the Yarra Ranges Highway Patrol on the Maroondah Highway.
“He had left the scene,” Highway Patrol Acting Sergeant Michael Pryor said.
The driver was processed at Lilydale Police Station, charged and released on bail.
Two vehicles were taken away that evening on tow trucks.
Coldstream CFA were later called to the scene around 8.50pm to assist with the wash away.
Over the Easter long weekend, two serious collisions occurred on different days on the same section of Melba Highway in Yering.
On both occasions, the driver left the paved road section on a bend, which resulted in an accident.
Lilydale SES unit controller Shaun Caulfield said environmental factors were unlikely to be at fault but more care needed to be taken.
“It’s not a blind corner and you can see really well, but sometimes people do not handle that bend with the appropriate level of care,” he said.
One accident had taken place on Good Friday 7 April around 3 pm, SES were called to the scene by a passerby.
It appeared the driver had collided with a power pole but escaped injury.
The second and larger accident occurred on Saturday 8 April at approximately 4.45 pm.
Mr Caulfield said it appeared one car lost control after clipping a pole as it was heading towards Lilydale along the Melba Highway, but there was nothing to suggest the car was speeding.
“There’s a reasonable chance that this made the difference between it being an injury crash and a serious injury or fatality crash,” he said.
Allegedly, the car had spun out into the path of another vehicle and another car had to swerve to avoid the collision.
SES members assisted the ambulance staff on the scene that afternoon, while five people were assessed for injuries.
Ambulance Victoria confirmed four people were taken to different hospitals for further care and all have since been confirmed to be in stable condition.
Captain Sean Bethell said the last two weeks have been a hectic time and he confirmed that there had been several other accidents recently, including the one on Wednesday.
“Over the Easter break we had several callouts,” he said.
A number of other accidents took place in the previous week, including a four car pile up on 2 April on Maroondah Highway and on 5 April a young driver was also involved in a car rollover in Gruyere in the early morning.
No lives have been lost in these accidents but statewide data in Victoria confirms there have been 91 deaths on roads in 2023.
This is up from 74 lives lost during the same time period of last year.
Fatigue, distracted driving, speeding and substance based impairment are the main causes of road trauma.
Lilydale SES and Coldstream CFA urged people to take care when driving and remain focused on the roads to avoid accidents.
“Slow down and concentrate on what’s happening in front of you on the road,” Mr Bethell said.
Both community groups have been making posts on social media urging drivers to be safe on the roads, a message that has been universal from emergency services.
Sergeant Kirsty Swankie of Healesville Police confirmed that these recent collisions had been attended by highway patrol and said people need to be mindful of wet roads.
“They also need to ensure their vehicles are well maintained and roadworthy to ensure safety for all road users,” she said.
Police will continue to investigate the specific causes of these crashes.
