A burnt-out car wreck is the last straw for a resident on Coolamon Scenic Drive near Ocean Shores. Lee Symond says most of the older locals she has met know someone who has been injured or killed on Coolamon Scenic Drive between Mullumbimby and Ocean Shores.
‘My family and I now have to implement a strategy every time we enter or leave our own driveway so as not to be injured, maimed or possibly killed not to mention the consistent bullying and threatening behaviour of many drivers tailgating and overtaking the blind bend and speeding toward us as I slow down to enter or leave my own home.’
Chief Inspector Luke Arthurs of the Tweed/Byron PD said the car wasn’t reported as being stolen. ‘The accident happened at about 11.45pm on Sunday. The vehicle failed to navigate a bend on Coolamon Scenic Drive about one kilometre east of Banana Road causing it to impact with a tree and setting the tree on fire,’ he said. ‘The New South Wales Fire and Rescue were in attendance as well as police. No one was in or near the vehicle when emergency services arrived.’
Mr Arthurs said the car is registered to a Brunswick Heads address.
Ms Symond says this is not the first time this type of accident has happened. ‘I’m extremely concerned for the safety of my family, friends, neighbours and the children on the school bus who travel twice a day on a substandard road with no speed limit or centreline marking, with increasing tourist movement and large trucks that can barely negotiate the hairpin bends.’
Ms Symond says of concern now is another risk. ‘There is the possibility of potential bushfire threat that this road now fosters from negligent and culpable driving on a substandard road resulting in car accidents like this one, where trees are lit by burning wreckage. Think this is a very important issue that council and residents should now consider.’
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