A Ballarat man has been charged after a dramatic crash in Melbourne's CBD where an allegedly stolen car crashed into a pole and flipped on Swanston Street.
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The 36-year-old was charged with nine offences including aggravated burglary, reckless conduct endangering life and theft of a car.
He faced the Melbourne Magistrates Court on Saturday and was remanded in custody to reappear at a later date.
Police said the crash could have had "catastrophic" consequences after the stolen ute struck a traffic light pole on Swanston Street about 6.40am on Friday.
The impact of the crash caused the ute to roll and slide up the street before it came to rest on tram tracks near the Bourke Street intersection.
Pedestrians narrowly avoided injury, with eyewitness Drew Wilson saying he and his friends were almost hit.
"The pole saved a lot of lives," he told Channel 7.
Police will allege the driver stole the black Holden Rodeo from a service station in Barkly Street, St Kilda, just 15 minutes earlier.
He is also accused of breaking into a home in Marine Parade, St Kilda, while someone was asleep inside about 5.30am.
The crash came a day after Premier Daniel Andrews met with Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull to talk about installing bollards at a number of locations in the city after the London terrorist attack on Thursday.
Mr Turnbull had called for bollards following the Bourke Street attack in January, and Mr Andrews said the work had begun in the wake of the Nice [terrorist] attack last year.
"There were meetings as soon as yesterday between the City of Melbourne and Victoria Police and we'll have more to say about that quite soon.
"There is a challenge with our tram network but we're working on engineering solutions that will make the city even safer."
