Lexus Smash On Albany Highway This Morning

Being a Saturday I drove in to work early this morning. I received a bit of a shock on Albany Highway when I came across the wreck of a Lexus. There were a few people around and I parked my car to see if my help was needed. All you could smell from at least 50 metres away was oil.

As I arrived at the scene I noticed a guy on a mobile calling for emergency services. Then I saw legs and boots hanging out from where the car door should be. And they weren't moving. I've done first aid before but my mind was a bit blank. My first thought was about danger - DRABC. The traffic was minimal. The guy with the mobile was talking to the driver, explaining that he had been in an accident and that he shouldn't move as he may have broken bones. About one to two minutes later the driver moved the sun shade out of the way and got out of the car. He didn't have to move much wreckage as the whole top of the car was exposed. When asked if anyone else was in the car he said that there was a friend. No-one else was in the car but the passenger side door didn't have a scratch on it so it is feasible that a passenger was there and had left.

Amazing. This guy walked away from the car! The airbag on the drivers side had inflated, his car seat appeared broken, almost nothing was left of the drivers side of the car but he walked away! Another thing that struck me was the smell of alcohol surrounding the car. I cleaned about four broken beer bottles away from the only lane of the road not blocked so that traffic could pass by.

About a minute later he was about to do a runner. The guy with the mobile was quite upset with the driver and told him to sit down. These two nearly came to blows as the driver was in a hurry to leave the scene. Quite understandable if he was drunk. The mobile phone guy yelled at the driver, "If you get up again I will put you down again!" There was no way that this guy was doing a Ben Cousins.

Two ambulances and three or four fire engines/vehicles then arrived and it was time to head off to work. If the driver had been seriously hurt I would have been able to offer assistance but he wasn't too badly hurt.

Passenger side of Lexus.

It looks like the Jaws of Life have already been used but that's not the case.

No need to open the door to get out.

Hardly a scratch on the passenger side.

She's a totalled Lexus alright.

How on earth did the driver walk away from this?

Bit of damage to a fence before trying to take out the building.


Apologies for the images but my camera is no good in the dark and I've had to fiddle with some of the exposures and doctor the pictures to show you the carnage. He's a lucky man. Apart from the damage to the shop that he'll have to pay for, the clean-up bill, the emergency services to pay for and the fact that, if drunk, his insurance company won't be paying for these or his Lexus, he got off lightly. And the Lexus is not a cheap car. The guy was an African so it appears that he had a nice car to show off to the ladies but that's not the case any more.

It appears that he was heading out of the city in a southern direction on Albany Highway. There are some deep tyre marks as he left the road some 15-20 metres before hitting the fence and then colliding with the building on the left hand side of the road. The impact appears to have flung the car about 6-10 metres back onto the road. Two witnesses said to me that they were in a building across the road and heard an almighty crash and came out to investigate. I don't know if the car flipped but I'm surprised at how one side sustained so little damage.

But the driver walked away. I hope he bought a Lotto ticket.

***** POSTSCRIPT *****

Here's the report of this accident on News.com.au - the same article as appeared in the Sunday Times.