Lucky tourists survive crash

A group of tourists are lucky to be alive after losing control of their hire car when clipping a big pothole on South Coast Highway near Jerramungup.

The crash occurred last Sunday about 2.45pm and left the tourists shaken, according to ex-State Emergency Services’ Alice Francis, who was first on the scene.

Ms Francis found the vehicle, a Toyota SUV, upside down in nearby bushland, about 15km west of Jerramungup.

The driver apparently hit the pothole, which was about one metre wide containing loose chunks of gravel and bitumen, before over-correcting and crossing the verge.

Ms Francis said she didn’t know if the occupants were alive when she neared the car, saying the windows were blocked with the deployed air-bags.

“I couldn’t get the doors open as they were all wedged shut so the two in back seat released their seatbelts, fell and pushed on the door as I pulled from outside,” she said.

“Next I went for the passenger and driver asking if they could move; the engine was still on and at this stage I told them we needed to get them out in case the car caught on fire.”

Ms Francis said she needed help to extract the driver, a woman in her 20s, as the seatbelt and door was jammed by a tree so she flagged down three drivers who helped get the driver out safely.

“An ER doctor was driving by about 30 minutes after impact who looked over the passenger who has received a bump to the head and whiplash, whilst I kept an eye on the driver as she kept wandering off near the road to take photos, we had a bugger of a time trying to communicate and getting them to sit down,” she said.

The South Coast Highway is a State highway managed by Main Roads, who inspect the State road network on a regular basis and schedule maintenance activities as required.

Main Roads regional manager, Andrew Duffield said Main Roads had inspected that section of South Coast Highway twice in the previous week with no defects at this location being evident.

Main Roads had placed hazard signs at the location and reduced the posted speed limit to 60km/h until repairs could be completed.

“Main Roads also undertook a temporary repair at the site on Monday, 21 November until a permanent repair could be effected,” he said.

A repair crew was scheduled to be on site Wednesday to undertake a permanent repair.

Main Roads has undertaken substantial works on South Coast Highway over recent years, including the reconstruction of the Manypeaks section at a cost of $5.2 million, the construction of the Ravensthorpe Heavy Vehicle route at a cost of $20 million, a total of $3.7 million in high priority pavement repairs east of Ravensthorpe and 1.43 million square metres of resurfacing at a cost of $17.9 million.

Mr Duffield said Main Roads was eager to secure funding for $50 million in high-priority capital works on South Coast Highway in future.