Fatal crash on 'blind bend'

Updated November 2 2012 - 12:04pm, first published July 21 2009 - 12:19pm
The scene of the fatal crash at Lake Goldsmith that killed 21-year-old Matthew George. Photo by Lachlan Bence.
The scene of the fatal crash at Lake Goldsmith that killed 21-year-old Matthew George. Photo by Lachlan Bence.

A MAN charged with five driving offences after a head-on collision at Lake Goldsmith that killed a 21-year-old man faced a court yesterday.Ballarat Magistrates Court heard during a committal hearing that Matthew George had no time to apply his brakes before his Mitsubishi sedan crashed into a trailer on the Lake Goldsmith-Stockyard Hill Rd at 1.50pm on November 11, 2007.Mr George died at the scene.The court heard Geoffrey Stuart Henderson, 54, was allegedly driving on the wrong side of a narrow road around a blind bend when the crash occurred.Prosecutor John Goetz told the court Henderson was driving a Holden utility in an easterly direction towing a tandem trailer, which was carrying a utility, while Mr George was travelling in a westerly direction."The shape of the road for the accused as he travelled east is a sweeping right hand curve with a gradient," Mr Goetz said."It's been described as being a blind bend."Major Collision Investigation Unit Senior Constable David Mair told the court Henderson would have been travelling about 30kmh on the wrong side of the road when the fatal collision occurred.He said the crash happened on the road's biggest blind section.Video footage of the crash site shown to the court pictured a narrow, gravel and windy road with high vegetation on both sides.Sen Const Mair told the court Mr George and his female passenger, who is expected to give evidence today, were not wearing seatbelts at the time of the collision.Defence counsel Kerry Stephens argued there was not enough room for two cars on the road.The court heard that after Mr George's death, his family had modified the bend to improve visability.Henderson, of Derrinallum, is charged with culpable driving, driving in a manner dangerous, failing to keep left, using an unroadworthy vehicle and using a vehicle not complying with the relevant mass.

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