An elderly man has died following a two vehicle collision in Bruce earlier this morning (Wednesday, March 13).
Around 10.10am a blue Toyota Corolla Seca was travelling eastbound on Belconnen Way when it collided with a green Mitsubishi Lancer.
The elderly woman who was driving the blue Toyota Corolla Seca was taken to The Canberra Hospital suffering serious injuries, while the elderly man who was a passenger in the vehicle died.
ACT Police and Parademics officers performed CPR on the elderly man at the scene but he was unable to be revived.
The driver of the green Mitsubishi Lancer involved in the collision suffered minor injuries and was taken to Calvary Hospital.
ACT Policing’s Collision, Investigation and Reconstruction Team are investigating the cause of the collision, and preparing a report for the ACT Coroner.
The man is the second person to die on an ACT road this year.
Anyone who witnessed or rendered assistance in the two vehicle collision in Bruce this morning, and can assist police with their investigation is urged to contact Crime Stoppers on 1800 333 000, or via www.act.crimestoppers.com.au. Information can be provided anonymously.
[Courtesy ACT Policing]
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Red lights are now considered optional in this city based on my observations. Not only the people trying to sneak through on the amber light, there’s now widespread red light before entering intersection a flooring it through.
The intersection this accident was at is notorious for it, with at least 2 cars running the red at each change (both heading straight and turning) and trying to get through the massive intersection. Adding extra time for the green change appears to be their solution instead of enforcing it, today is the day that it was eventually going to come undone I guess.
The number of serious near misses I’ve seen at this insection is amazing – unfortunately it was only a matter of time before this happened. Is there a better way to design this intersection?
From bd84′s post it seems as if this happened at an intersection. Not knowing the actual circumstances or the area, i cant say if it was a red light running inident, but thoroughly agree that many drivers in this town seem utterly oblivious to the fact that when their light turns red, it means the others are about to turn green. Most people on seeing an amber light put their foot down to get through regardless of the time they have before it goes.
Monsieur Cholet told me just last week that with young Master Cholet in the back of our car, he went to set off across the large intersection near the airport as you turn off the Monaro – his light having turned green. Good thing that he had his wits about him as a car coming from the city shot through a red light in front of him. I remarked that this was in no way unusual in this town, but must admit that the thought of my son being in the car when this happened made my stomach turn.
It’s no way to lose someone you love and I offer my sympathies to the families involved here.
Which intersection was it?
It was under the GDE. All the glass under the northern side.
johnboy said :
That whole area is a giant cluster-f**k of intersections, I’m surprised there haven’t been more accidents there.
bd84 said :
Yeah, the red light running at that intersection is just appalling. Not sure if that had anything to do with the accident (at 10am you wouldn’t think so, peak hour is over), but it should definitely be addressed.
Red light camera would strike me as a better solution than extending the gap between red and green lights.
Why give people more time to run a red when you can put a stop to the practice so easily. It’s not the intersection that’s to blame, it’s the f$#ers running red lights.
Why not just install red light cameras at every single traffic lights in Canberra? Pretty much problem solved right there. Mully and the likes wouldn’t bother but I’m pretty sure it would stop the majority of bell ends who run red lights.
It does increasingly seem that red lights at any intersection in Canberra without a camera are considered a suggestion only. Ironically, the worst place for red light runners I’ve encountered is the intersection between the Tuggeranong police station and Homeworld…
This is a stupidly designed intersection no thanks to ACT Roads.What they should have done is designed it so that the distance across the Belconnen Way stretch was some 10-15 metres shorter than it currently is.This obviously would’ve reduced the time taken to traverse the length of the intersection thereby reducing the perception that one is likely to run a red light for it takes an eternity to get through the intersection.
DrKoresh said :
Get real. That intersection is massive, a very safe one. Absolutely no way this could have happened unless one of the drivers was negligent or reckless.
The intersection is a bit confusing given that you can go multiple ways and there are lines everywhere. But I’m not sure its dangerous given its all controlled by lights
c_c™ said :
Exactly – this was a fck-up, not an accident.
bundah said :
People are running red lights and you blame the road? WTF?
I’m not sure how you could change this intersection, but I’ve witnessed numerous times where traffic heading City bound think they can go when traffic turning right onto Gungahlin Drive get a green arrow. Around 50% of the time, people get through without encountering other cars, 49% the ones going through the red are abused by drivers trying to turn onto Gungahlin Drive (northbound). 1% of the time a bingle occurs, wether it be a rear ended from traffic waiting or like today.
It was my relatives in the car. If anybody witnessed the accident please, please contact the police.
I went through this junction this evening, went through an orange light, it was too alte to brake from close to 80km/h, and by the time I’d got across the intersection the light on the other side was red – does that mean it was green for someone else?
When I first arrived in oz in 1997 it took a while to adapt to the convention for traffic lights here, which is often that the right turn green light comes on separately to the straight ahead green light. This seems to me to create more opportunity for the two right-turning lines of traffic (one from each direction) to collide, than if straight ahead and right turn came on at the same time, so everyone is travelling in the same direction. (not sure if I’ve described this well enough for people to understand?)
IP
Comic_and_Gamer_Nerd said :
Installing red light cameras at only certain intersections in Canberra was always going to result in dickheads running red lights at every other intersection that does not have a camera.
This is just human nature. We learn to hit the picks at those intersections where a fine is the result of running a red light………….but knowing that at most other intersections there is almost nil chance of being busted for running the red……well the result was inevitable really.
If you bring in red light cameras – then every intersection with a red light should be fitted. Otherwise don’t bother…….
c_c™ said :
I wonder how old elderly means? Probably didn’t know the light was red.
The other danger with this intersection is that you might see a green light even if its not pointing at you. Way too many Green lights at 45degree angles.
From what I saw today (given the location of ambo’s firetrucks etc) the other car came south from GDE and turned off to goto civic and the old lady has seen that green light and gone though the intersection.
GDE tried to do too much. Should have been split as two intersections like every other split crossing south of glenlock or designed like a 4 leaf clover like commonwealth ave and parkes way.
With the current government cheaper always wins.
Which of the drivers was wearing lycra? They must be at fault.
patrick_keogh said :
Poor taste, Patrick, and not even funny.
Get real. That intersection is massive, a very safe one. Absolutely no way this could have happened unless one of the drivers was negligent or reckless.
Get lost, you weren’t there with your camera filming it this time, so stop talking out of your bum as if you were there.
That last one was in response to C_Ctm’s claim of omniscience here:
c_c™ said :
Jim Jones said :
What and they don’t run red lights at other intersections? It happens everywhere and yes i agree they should have red light and speed cameras there and many other intersections.The issue with this particular intersection is the sheer size which i believe many elderly and others find intimidating and therefore are more likely to make a poor judgement as to whether they should stop or continue on through when the lights change.
Running red lights aside, it is a seriously bad piece or road engineering.
patrick_keogh said :
I can see your attempt at humour, but someones father, husband, grandfather etc has been killed here. I think the humour might be a little misplaced.
I don’t know this intersection being from god’s country (southside). I have to agree though with red light running in Canberra being at epidemic proportions. I think it’s the most dangerous thing one can do whilst behind the wheel of a motor vehicle. Not to say who was at fault here though, it may all be a tragic circumstance of the driver of the car with the deceased in it being at fault.
Sympathies to the man’s family.
IrishPete said :
There is a two to three second delay between the light turning red and the green in the other direction.Generally speaking the larger the intersection the more likely the delay is closer to three seconds.
DrKoresh said :
I wouldve hesitated.
But no surprises that a lycra blaming troll called you out.
One of the issues with that intersection is that it’s so big, and the turning arcs are so wide, that drivers barely need to slow down to turn across it. Driving through it towards Belconnen, I regularly see cars turning from Belconnen Way onto the GDE towards Tuggeranong running the red, and they’d be doing 70-80km/h, if not faster.
So nobody really slows down when approaching the lights. This means that when the light turns orange, they’re going too fast to stop.
If red light cameras at that intersection achieved nothing more than making approach the intersection with more caution, they’d be worthwhile.
It’s a big intersection but basically safe. It probably carries 10′s of thousands of cars every day.
Everyone seems very quick to assign blame to reckless red light running but sometimes people make simple little mistakes with massive consequenses.
My sympathies to all involved. Condolences to NetSpeed and your family @#16