Pile-up chaos

By Mara Pattison-Sowden
HEALESVILLE’S busy main street was once plunged into chaos yesterday after a car driven by an elderly man went out of control.
In a scene reminiscent to onlookers from the terrible crash in April, the incident left a trail of wrecked cars down the main street of Healesville about 10.30am.
Pedestrians looked on helplessly as a silver Ford Laser, which appeared to be out of control for the male driver, struck three cars, with a fourth receiving damage from impact.
Senior Constable Glen Piper, from Yarra Glen police station, said the damage began when the Ford Laser, driven by a 78-year-old Healesville man, struck a parked Toyota Camry as it was taking off from a car park in front of the Commonwealth Bank.
Sen Const Piper said the man drove 100-metres before he struck the rear of a black Holden, driven by a 47-year-old woman and travelling in the same direction.
As a result the driver of the Ford went off to the side and struck a parked Mazda, before hitting a light pole and coming to a rest outside the Upper Yarra Community House and Mail Newspaper Group offices.
The impact on the Mazda bounced it forward, hitting a Ford Econo-van in front of it.
An Ambulance Victoria spokeswoman said the driver was taken to Maroondah Hospital in a stable condition.
“He didn’t appear to have suffered any injuries, but he was quite shaken,” she said.
Sen Const Piper said the man’s wife had told police he had been unwell the previous night, and he had driven in to town for a doctor’s appointment.
The driver of the black Holden was shaken, but uninjured.
A 43-year-old male was sitting in the driver’s seat of his white Ford Econovan when the Mazda hit the back of his van.
“I saw in the rear-view mirror what had happened so I moved a few spots down to get out of the way,” he said.
The 71-year-old owner of the Mazda, Buxton resident Margaret Ray, said she was just walking back to the car and saw it all.
“I saw the car banged into someone over there, tore across the road and did that to my car. I was just in total shock,” she said.
The 69-year-old owner of the Toyota Camry who was in the bank came out to see his car after it had been struck.
Owner of the Barrique wine store, Sean O’Brien, witnessed the collision.
“He rammed into the back of the Camry, reversed and went to seemingly drive off. I grabbed his rego and thought that would be the end of it,” Mr O’Brien said.
“Then I went outside and watched him drive down and hit the black car, he reversed and hit it again, bouncing off the gold car and into the lamp post.”
Traffic was diverted for more than an hour as ambulance crews, CFA and SES volunteers, and police cleared the highway.
Geoff Stott from Healesville SES said the CFA turned off the fuse to the street light that was hit, and SES workers helped the 78-year-old driver into the ambulance.
Several on-lookers commented to the Mail that “it was just like the incident that happened in April” where a car, driven by an 84-year-old man, hit four cars and knocked down a pedestrian.
Police said investigations are still continuing into the reasons behind the crash.