CALLS for changes to Ballarat’s Avenue of Honour are expected to grow after a horror accident left six people injured, two fighting for their lives, on Saturday night.
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Two women in their 20s were airlifted to Melbourne after the two-car collision at the corner of Remembrance Drive and Madden Road at 8.15pm.
One woman was airlifted to The Alfred Hospital with critical head and chest injuries.
A second woman was also critical with head injuries and was airlifted to the Royal Melbourne Hospital. Late on Sunday, her condition had been upgraded to stable.
All five occupants of a blue hatchback were taken to hospital, while a young girl travelling in a ute was also taken to hospital, the male driver of the ute was uninjured.
The other passengers injured were taken to Ballarat base hospital with various injuries, but all were listed as being stable.
A Singaporean woman, the alleged driver of the hatchback, was charged by police on Sunday.
The 21-year-old woman was charged with negligently cause serious injury and dangerous driving causing serious injury.
She was remanded to appear at Ballarat Magistrates’ Court on Monday.
The crash comes just one week after another accident left a 19-year-old man with critical head injuries.
Just last week, Ballarat Councilor and Avenue of Honour committee member Daniel Moloney again pushed to reduce the speed of Remembrance Drive to 80 kilometres per hour.
“These incidents can have tragic consequences,” he told The Courier.
“I’ve seen it first hand, I’ve been there in the aftermath of a crash where a father and his kids were lucky to be alive. Anything that can be done to reduce the likelihood of fatalities should be done.”
Where the latest crash occurred.
VicRoads has previously calculated that dropping the speed limit to 80 kilometres per hour would increase travel time for Cardigan commuters by 70 seconds.
“People keep saying ‘just take better care and drive to the conditions’, but it doesn’t take much. We all like to think of ourselves as the perfect driver, and that this could never happen to us, but we all make mistakes.”
Major Collision Investigation Unit detectives are investigating the cause of the incident.
The State Government has been spruiking the advantages of wire barriers all year with the installation underway along the Western Freeway and along Creswick Road from Ballarat to Creswick.
“These flexible safety barriers include wire rope barriers and flexible guard fences, which are held up by steel posts that collapse on impact. These safety barriers stretch and absorb the force of a crash,” Roads Minister Luke Donnellan said earlier in the year.
Witnesses to Saturday’s crash are urged to contact police. Victoria’s road toll stands at 188, down from 219 at the same time last year.
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