Another nasty crash near a Queensland beach campsite has reignited community outrage over driving behaviour at the popular spot.
Campers at Teewah Beach on the Cooloola Coast rushed to help after they heard a Toyota LandCruiser flip.
One of them, 35-year-old Jayce Ferguson, told the ABC she was taking a photo behind a nearby sand dune when there was a big bang.
“The passenger’s legs were hanging outside of the driver’s side window, we grabbed him out and laid him down,” Ms Ferguson said. “Then they grabbed the driver out who was lifeless … he was blue, grey.”
Thankfully as the family began CPR on the 18-year-old driver, he moved.
Police confirmed that because of the remote location, it took emergency services more than two hours to get to the scene.
The 18-year-old driver suffered forearm and head injuries and the 17-year-old passenger suffered facial injuries. Both were airlifted to hospital for treatment.
Tin Can Bay officer-in-charge Sergeant Mick Bazoo said investigations into the cause of the crash were continuing.
“Education programs are the way to go, it is still a road and you need to abide by the same road rules as if you were driving a local street,” he said. “There is a fine line between fun and stupidity … Saturday’s accident could have easily been horribly tragic.”
This latest accident comes almost six months after an 18-year-old passenger was killed in a rollover in August; the 19-year-old driver is now facing charges.
The incidents prompted online calls for mitigation measures, from closing the beach to banning P-plate drivers.
However, Noosa MP Sandy Bolton said less drastic measures were in the works after eight months of changes at Cooloola, Teewah and North Shore to tackle hooning and littering.
“The types of things that were looked at included integrated systems between police and Parks and Wildlife to identify those that had an infringement … to easily identify those that do the wrong thing,” she said. “For example, they might not be able to get permits again for a period of time.”
Ms Bolton said she was also working on drawing attention to fixing communication blackspots in the area to call for help in emergencies.
