Leg held by crash witness
A MOTORIST who narrowly avoided a crash that seriously injured two people has described the terrifying ordeal, saying she helped keep an injured woman alive.
Jay Dodds was confronted with mangled cars, metres of shattered glass and a seriously injured woman on the Bruce Highway.
Initial investigations suggest the woman, 46, was driving north on the highway near Mutarnee at 1.06am yesterday when her sedan and a Toyota Hilux ute conducting line marking collided 400m from the Ollera Creek turn-off.
Ms Dodds slowed down and drove around the roadworks, but says the other car did not stop.
“I saw lights coming in behind fast and started screaming go, go, go,” she wrote on social media about the ordeal.
Ms Dodds said the ute was propelled forward, and she immediately turned around to help.
“I had my window open and it happened inches from my head,” she said.
“My life flashed before my eyes.
“I felt glass hit me, and I jumped out thinking she was dead.”
Ms Dodds was then confronted with a scene of carnage, with the front of the woman’s sedan completely crumpled and fire crews work
ing to free the woman from the car. The ute was several metres from the point of impact, with broken glass and debris spread across the road.
The woman had suffered severe leg injuries, and Ms Dodds said she grabbed a towel from her car to “put her leg back together” while they waited for help.
Ms Dodds said she “kept her alive” until a rescue helicopter arrived.
The woman was flown to Townsville University Hospital in a serious condition, and the linesman was also taken to hospital in a serious but stable condition with chest injuries.
Police are investigating the cause of the crash, and confirmed the woman had blood taken for drug and alcohol testing while at hospital.
The crash closed the Bruce Highway for six hours yesterday morning.
Insurance provider AAMI ranked the notorious highway as the top crash hot spot in Townsville, followed by Sturt Street and the Flinders Highway.