Crash course urged for young car thieves’ parents

A SPECIALIST Cairns crash investigator fears for the day when local police are faced with “dead children in crashed cars” as the spate of stolen vehicles continues.

Forensic Crash Unit Acting Sgt Lee Chamberlain said there had been two serious crashes within the past 12 months involving stolen cars where the juvenile offenders riding inside had suffered significant injuries.

A teenage girl was left with a fractured spine after a crash on the Captain Cook Highway near Yorkeys Knob last year, while another girl lost her finger after a stolen vehicle rolled on a Woree street last January.

Sgt Chamberlain yesterday’s incident said could have ended far worse and it was now “only a matter of time” before one of these crashes resulted in a fatality.

“At some stage that luck is going to run out and we’re going to face dead children in crashed cars,” he said.

He has reiterated calls for parents and guardians to take responsibility and urged any concerned by their children’s behaviour to take part in a Survive Your Drive course run by Cairns police.

He said the course contains an element of shock value.

“We show them what is going to happen when things go wrong in a vehicle,” he said.

“If they’re concerned about a child in their care or a loved one who is involved with stolen cars ... call us.”