Freak accident … Cafe owner Cynthia Anderson surveys the damage after the crash on Wednesday morning.
By Karen Poh
THE eerie screams and screeching of tyres followed by a thunderous cracking of glass is a memory that Salt n Pepa Cafe owner Cynthia Anderson would rather forget.
The Altona cafe owner came running out of the kitchen just after 9am last Wednesday to find a late-model station wagon had careered into her Pier St shopfront, where six of her regular customers were seated in the alfresco dining area.
The elderly driver was unhurt but five of the six customers were injured, with one 43-year-old woman taken to Royal Melbourne Hospital with a broken leg.
A Victoria Police spokeswoman said the 71-year-old man with a prosthetic right leg was attempting to do a U-turn on Pier St when he stepped on the accelerator of his car and mounted the footpath on the western side of the road.
Temporary road closures on Pier St for road and drainage works at the Queen and Pier St intersections had forced many drivers to do a U-turn on the narrow two-lane road.
There is a road-closed sign at the median strip on the stretch of Pier St where the accident took place but the Hobsons Bay City Council has allowed local traffic access to parking spaces and shops.
“They were all staff from the Coles supermarket on their morning break and they come here everyday to get their morning coffee, sit out the front and have their smoke,” Ms Anderson said.
“Apparently one of the girls stood up when she saw the car and yelled for the man to stop. She grabbed his keys out the window as he was going past her to try and stop the car.
“But it was too late and the car then dragged the other girls that were sitting at the table and the chairs and they’ve ended up on the side of the curb where Bakers Delight is.”
Staff from Bakers Delight heard the screams next door.
“It wasn’t nice to see,” said one shop assistant who did not want to be named.
“We heard a lot of screaming and all we saw were the girls flying and falling in front of the shop and the tables and chairs were going everywhere.
“We called the ambulance and it took about 20 minutes for them to come. It was lucky no one got killed,” she said.
The council’s director of works and assets Phillip McDonald said the section of Pier St between Blyth and Queens streets was left open to traffic due to concerns raised by local traders about a lack of parking during the works.
“The section of Pier St that has been closed to traffic is well signed and complies with all safety standards,” Mr McDonald said.
“A traffic management plan was approved before works commenced.”
He said drainage works will continue despite the accident.
But the incident has made Ms Anderson see things differently. She wants the street to be completely sealed from local traffic.
“Because you’ve only got one way in and one way out, there’s no flow through traffic. The road should be totally closed, it should be barricaded,” she said. “Everybody needs to do a U-turn, and (a crash) may happen again, you don’t know.”
“It was a freak accident and I feel sorry for the gentleman driving the car. I think he was in a bit of a shock,” Ms Anderson said.
