A woman is dead and a toddler has been seriously injured after an elderly driver lost control of her car and struck a family walking along the footpath from behind.
A silver Toyota Yaris, driven by the 91-year-old woman, mounted the footpath on Coleman Road at Wantirna South, in Melbourne’s east shortly before 12.30pm on Thursday.
Three people from the same family – the woman, 59, a man, 60, and a two-year-old boy were walking along the footpath in the same direction as the car when they were hit.
The woman died at the scene.
The man, believed to be the woman’s partner, is fighting for his life in The Alfred Hospital.
The boy was rushed to The Royal Children’s Hospital with life-threatening injuries but is now in a stable condition, Sunrise reported on Friday morning.
Victoria Police are yet to confirm the relationship between the victims.
It’s understood the driver collided with a street sign and struck the pedestrians before her car ploughed through a fence and came to a stop near a children’s playground.
‘It came from behind,’ Superintendent Justin Goldsmith told reporters.
‘It looks like it’s (lost control) about 40m or 50m before the collision with the people who were walking on the other side of that road.
‘No one was hit at the park thankfully.’
The elderly driver escaped with minor scratches and was taken to hospital for assessment and blood testing.
Police are yet to interview the woman, who was ‘terribly shaken’. It’s unknown whether she will face charges.
Supt Goldsmith said it was too early to say whether the driver had suffered a medical episode when she lost control.
Crash investigators will examine whether speed was a contributing factor.
‘That will be subject to the investigation, but it is a downhill section of road, so if there has been a lack of control to some degree there is a possibility the car would have picked up speed as it’s driven further down Coleman Road,’ Supt Goldsmith said.
It comes after CCTV emerged of an out-of-control car traveling along Coleman Road moments before the collision.
The footage also showed a couple pushing a pram along a footpath. It is unclear if the group was the same trio who were hit in the collision.
The crash happened during the first week of Victorian school holidays and brought the state’s road toll to 14 lives lost in the last seven days.
‘We’re facing a horrific month for road trauma,’ Supt Goldsmith said.
‘We’ve lost so many lives and had so many life-threatening injuries over the course of last week (and it) is completely horrific and unacceptable.’
Victoria has recorded a number of deadly crashes involving out-of-control vehicles in recent years.
In November, a kindergarten worker and a three-year-old boy was injured when a runaway truck smashed through the gate of Macedon Ranges Montessori Preschool’s playground.
Two weeks earlier, an 11-year-old boy was killed and four other students injured when an SUV crashed through a fence at Auburn South Primary School in Melbourne’s east.
Five people were killed and six injured in November 2023 when a diabetic driver passed out behind the wheel and crashed into patrons seated outside the Royal Daylesford Hotel.
The driver was charged, but the allegations were ultimately struck out after a magistrate found there was not enough evidence to support a conviction.