Awaiting head-on blood test

New driver details emerge

The driver of a Jeep involved in a horror head-on smash with a bus had been training for years with a popular Gold Coast martial arts school.

A bumper sticker for the school could be seen on the back of the destroyed red SUV, which had ricocheted off the front of a Kinetic bus in the high-impact crash that left eight people injured.

A 25-year-old Arundel man who police say was driving the Jeep was injured and taken to hospital, along with a 21-yearold passenger.

As of Thursday morning, police were yet to lay charges over the collision on Brisbane Rd at Labrador, about 7pm Tuesday. The driver and his passenger had been released from hospital.

A staff member at the school said it would provide support to the 25-year-old Arundel man.

“He was one of our students,” the staff member said.

“He’s been training with us since he was a kid – it kind of seems wild this has happened.

“We’re having a meeting with all the instructors today, so we’ll probably have a chat about how we can support whoever needs it.

“It is sort of an unusual situation, but we will continue to support anyone who needs it.”

CCTV footage from a nearby sex shop shows the Jeep driving down the wrong side of the road before crashing straight into the front of the bus carrying 11 passengers.

Inspector Scott Knowles said police could not yet say whether drugs or alcohol had been a factor in the crash.

“There is some indications that some drug utensils were located in the vehicle, but again, we can’t say whether the driver was under the influence of any drugs or alcohol at the time,” he said. “That’s what we’re conducting investigations in relation to.”

The Kinetic bus was carrying 11 people, six of whom required assessment by paramedics. One of the bus passengers, a 46-year-old woman, was taken to Gold Coast University Hospital with pelvic and leg injuries.

Other witnesses said they heard the noise from a block away. “The impact was so loud,” one person said.

A woman who just missed the smash said she came around the corner and saw “people lying everywhere”.

“I don’t know what their injuries were, but there were no seatbelts on that bus and people were all over the ground,” she said.

Inspector Knowles said police were awaiting the result of blood testing to determine if alcohol or drugs were a factor in the crash.

“We’ve done some preliminary testing,” he said. “But at this point in time, we’ve got to wait for the official tests to come back once the analysis of the blood has occurred, that does take a little bit of time.

“At this point in time, police investigations are focused on looking for witnesses and any dashcam footage that may be available of the red jeep prior to the collision.”

Inspector Knowles confirmed the Jeep involved in the crash was not stolen.

“We need to conduct some mechanical investigations.

“It may well have been a mechanical problem with the vehicle,” he said.

“But at this point in time we’ve got to wait for the official tests to come back once the analysis of the blood has occurred – that does take a little bit of time Inspector Scott Knowles