Lucky Ring Road escape

Man survives 150km/h crash into rear of a speed camera car

A YOUNG man has narrowly escaped with his life after slamming into the rear of a stationary speed camera car while allegedly travelling at up to 150km/h in the city’s west.

Police said the vehicle had been travelling southbound on the Geelong Ring Road, near the Ballarat Road exit, when the collision happened at the border of Hamlyn Heights and Batesford, about 6.15pm Saturday.

Investigators said other motorists had reported the vehicle travelling erratically moments before it crashed.

Geelong Highway Patrol Sergeant Darren Murphy said the 23-year-old driver from Sunshine West escaped with non-life threatening injuries while the incident caused extensive traffic delays.

It followed a string of serious crashes across the region at the weekend, prompting police to plead for motorists to put safety at the forefront of their minds.inds.

“The vehicle, a Mitsubishi hatchback, has left the road to the left hand side and collided with the rear of a camera car. Certainly, speed seems to be a factor in relation to it,” he said.

“There were some reports of some erratic driving prior.

“Whether the cold weather is seeing people falling asleep with the heater on from being over-tired or whether people aren’t used to driving on damp roads, we want everyone to take their time and make sure they arrive at their destination.”

Ambulance Victoria spokeswoman Lisa Hind said paramedics responded to the crash and a subsequent incident as traffic slowed.

“We got the call at 6.15pm on the Geelong Ring Road near the corner of Ballarat Rd, a two-car accident with a man in his 30s suffering back pain,” she said.

“He was taken to Geelong hospital in a stable condition.

“With traffic slowing down we were then called to a nose to tail about 6.37pm with a man and woman aged in their 20s also taken to Geelong hospital in stable conditions with no obvious injuries.”

Yesterday on Princess Rd in Corio a woman in her 40s had to be helped from her vehicle after it hit a fence and power pole, about 11am.

Emergency services were also called to collisions on the Bellarine Highway in Newcomb, Purnell Rd in Corio, Great Ocean Road in Apollo Bay, and Church St, in Herne Hill across the weekend.

A new study by the Transport Accident Commission and Monash University Accident Research Centre found of the 291 deaths on Victorian roads last year, 140 resulted from lane departure crashes.

They said of those, 41 could have been prevented if the vehicles involved had Electronic Stability Control.

ESC senses when a vehicle is losing steering control and applies braking to put the car back on its intended path.

Australian Bureau of Statistics data from 2016 shows 31 per cent of registered cars in Victoria are fitted with ESC.