A head-on smash on the Princes Freeway near Lara that killed four friends from Wyndham was caused by a drunk driver, a coroner has ruled.
Coroner Ann McGarvie said last week the incident was not preventable and was not the result of poor road design or a delayed response from emergency services.
The coroner was releasing her findings into the December 2012 crash, in which Nathan Kerr, Casey Valetic, Melissa Parry and Brad Dickson, all in their 20s, were killed. Their friends, Scott Early and Nick Arbuthnot, survived the crash.
The group of friends were returning from a night out in Geelong on December 8 when a speeding BMW, which was being driven on the wrong side of the divided road, ploughed into their car.
The driver of the BMW, mother-of-two Sarah Dale, also died in the accident.
It was found that Ms Dale was driving at 160km/h and had been drinking at her boyfriend’s house the night before.
She was driving to a friend’s house in Queenscliff when the accident happened.
Passing motorists made calls to triple-0 in a bid to alert police to Ms Dale’s driving before the accident. Some of the callers criticised police for taking too long to respond.
Families of those killed in the crash also expressed concerns about the design of the Princes freeway.
However, the coroner found that there were not any issues regarding road signage, road design, emergency services or the police operation response that could be addressed to prevent an accident like this recurring.
The coroner found that the accident was an “isolated incident”.
Nathan’s mother, Amanda Wilson, said the past two years since the accident had been “overwhelming” and “distressing”.
“I can’t move on because, every day, Nathan doesn’t come home,” she said.
“He was so full of life and his presence is missed.”
