Devon crash leaves two teens with life-changing injuries
A 17-year-old boy from the Tiverton area was arrested on suspicion of causing serious injury by dangerous driving, failing to provide a specimen for analysis, and driving while unfit through drink. He has been released on bail pending further inquiries.The A38 was closed in both directions for several hours while forensic collision investigators examined the scene and it reopened shortly after 13:00 BST.Devon and Cornwall Police appealed for witnesses or anyone with dashcam footage of the incident to come forward.
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BBC News
19 minutes ago
- BBC News
Merging Suffolk and Norfolk police forces opposed by MP
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Daily Mail
an hour ago
- Daily Mail
Kyle Sandilands breaks silence after horror crash involving his driver - and reveals the extent of his shocking injuries
Kyle Sandilands has broken his silence after his driver was involved in a devastating accident over the weekend. The radio star, 54, revealed on The Kyle and Jackie O Show on Monday that his chauffeur George Plassaras had been involved in a collision that left him with 'multiple broken bones'. 'You may have seen over the weekend, it was all over the news, a head-on collision in Rose Bay in Sydney with a Rolls-Royce and a Mercedes,' he told listeners. 'Well, that was my driver, George.' The radio shock jock added that while the Rolls-Royce driver walked away 'unscathed', George was left with several serious injuries. From A-list scandals and red carpet mishaps to exclusive pictures and viral moments, subscribe to the DailyMail's new showbiz newsletter to stay in the loop. The radio star, 54, revealed on The Kyle and Jackie O Show on Monday that his chauffeur George Plassaras had been involved in a collision that left him with 'multiple broken bones' These included a broken spine, broken ribs, a ruptured spleen and diaphragm, a torn open abdomen, two broken hips and two broken femurs. Kyle said that George was the 'greatest employee ever' thanks to his actions following the accident. 'What did [he] say when he was taken away in the ambulance? He asked for his mobile phone so he could do what?' he added. 'This is a guy at 4.30 in the morning after he has been cut out of his vehicle, he's been trapped in his van for an hour, this poor bloke. 'And he asks the ambo: "Get my phone so I can make sure Kyle's all right for the week."' The young woman who crashed her $600,000 Rolls-Royce into George's Mercedes was allegedly drunk and will face court. The high-speed, head-on collision occurred around 3.30am on Saturday at New South Head Road in Rose Bay, in the city's east. NSW Police allege LanLan Yang, 23, veered onto the wrong side of the road, slamming into a Mercedes van being driven by the 52-year-old chauffeur. George, who runs Dakota Limousines, was trapped in the wreckage as horrified witnesses rushed to call triple zero. He could be heard yelling for help inside the crushed vehicle, as emergency crews from NSW Police Rescue and Fire and Rescue NSW worked to free him. The crash was captured on nearby CCTV which appeared to show Yang's luxury SUV allegedly veering into oncoming traffic before the violent collision. Police allege Yang carried out a roadside breath test, which returned a positive result, and she was arrested at the scene. At Waverley Police Station, she allegedly refused to undergo a breath analysis. Yang was charged with causing bodily harm by misconduct, being in charge of a motor vehicle, and refusing or failing to submit to breath analysis. She was granted conditional bail and ordered to surrender her passport. Under the strict conditions, she has been prohibited from driving a car and must remain at her Waverley mansion between 8pm and 6am daily. Yang is scheduled to appear at Downing Centre Local Court on August 15.
The Guardian
3 hours ago
- The Guardian
Hanging up the car keys for good: the decision to stop driving is complicated, but are age-based restrictions the answer?
Hiding car keys and deflating the car's tyres were some of the steps Melbourne woman Beth Nielsen took to prevent her grandfather from getting behind the wheel in the final years of his life. Nielsen's grandfather had been diagnosed with vascular dementia in 2016 but remained determined to drive. Some nights he would sleep with his car keys under his pillow. 'It was his obsession,' Nielsen says. 'It became a massive ordeal in the family to try to manage.' Despite having his licence revoked in 2018 after a family member reported him to authorities, Nielsen says her grandfather, aged in his late 80s, continued trying to drive and was 'obsessed with getting his licence back'. 'It turned into this sort of twisted tale, because it was clear by that stage he actually didn't have the capacity to realise that he wasn't safe to drive,' she says. Nielsen's grandfather died in 2019. In the final months of his life, he struggled with the loss of independence and may have felt like his family were 'out to get him', Nielsen says. 'When it's the last years of your loved one's life, you don't want to be having these arguments with them,' she says. 'We felt like the bad guys.' Decisions about when an older person should stop driving can be difficult for both the driver and their loved ones. Sign up for a weekly email featuring our best reads After decades behind the wheel, Ray, also from Melbourne, decided to hang up his car keys in his late 80s. The 91-year-old had been diagnosed with Ménière's disease in his 20s and suffered bouts of balance issues throughout his life. As he approached his 90th birthday and his health deteriorated, Ray, who requested his surname not be used, and his wife agreed she would be the couple's primary driver. 'I've done a lot of kilometres but I didn't want to be a burden to other people,' he says. 'I just felt it wasn't fair [to keep driving].' A fatal crash near a playground in Wantirna South in Melbourne's east on 10 July involving a 91-year-old female driver has placed rules for elderly drivers across Australia under scrutiny. The crash resulted in the deaths of two pedestrians – a 59-year-old woman and 60-year-old man. A two-year-old boy suffered non-life-threatening injuries. Speaking afterwards, Supt Justin Goldsmith said the car lost control near an intersection and mounted the footpath. On Friday, the woman was interviewed by police and released pending further inquiries. Unlike other Australian jurisdictions, Victoria has no mandatory age-based restrictions or required testing for elderly drivers. But drivers are still required by law to inform the roads authority, VicRoads, of any long-term medical conditions or injuries that may affect their ability to drive safely. Members of the public can also make referrals to VicRoads if they have concerns about someone's ability to drive safely. After the Wantirna South crash, the Victorian government flagged it would consider changing testing rules for older drivers. Asked if elderly Victorians should have to prove their fitness to drive, the state's deputy premier, Ben Carroll, said it was a 'valid' question. Carroll said he would work with the state's road safety minister, Melissa Horne, on this matter but did not outline potential reform the state would consider. A Victorian Department of Transport and Planning spokesperson last week said the state would review the 'current approach to licensing fitness to drive'. Guardian Australia understands the DTP is partnering with Monash University to review the effectiveness of mandatory reporting and assessment. Road safety experts say while research is limited, it does not show that jurisdictions with mandatory age-based testing regimes have lower crash rates than Victoria. New South Wales is the only state that mandates a practical driving assessment for older drivers (from 85) every two years. In Queensland, drivers over 75 are required to have a doctor assess them and, when on the road, carry a current medical certificate showing they are fit to drive. The Australian Capital Territory has a similar model, requiring drivers over 76 to undergo yearly medical assessments. In Western Australia, annual medical assessments are mandatory for drivers from 80. Victorian woman Sophie, 46, was involved in an accident earlier this month with a 102-year-old driver who reversed into her vehicle. 'The driver couldn't hear my horn and I wasn't able to get out of the way as there was another car behind me,' she says. 'I leapt out of my car and knocked on his window and he didn't register [that] I was there. When I opened his door he looked surprised.' Sophie, who requested her last name not be used, says the driver was struggling to hear her when they exchanged licence details. 'I was just concerned that he's driving around with no ability to hear other people and clearly not looking,' she says. Victorian motorists aged over 65 were responsible for at least 145 road deaths and more than 7,000 injuries in the five years to June 2023, police data shows. But Dr Sjaan Koppel, an associate professor at the Monash University Accident Research Centre (MUARC), says there is no direct correlation between age and fitness to drive. 'A driver of any age can have medical conditions. They can have functional impairments associated with those medical conditions and even the ageing process starts from the age of 40 in terms of a reduction in vision,' she says. Sign up to Five Great Reads Each week our editors select five of the most interesting, entertaining and thoughtful reads published by Guardian Australia and our international colleagues. Sign up to receive it in your inbox every Saturday morning after newsletter promotion 'We can see young, novice drivers who might also have medical conditions that make them unfit to drive, and the same with older people.' A 2011 study led by Koppel found that older drivers were involved in few crashes in terms of absolute numbers, but noted they represented one of the highest risk categories for crashes involving serious injury and death per number of drivers, and per distance travelled. Koppel says one of the reasons older people are overrepresented in crash and serious injury statistics is due to frailty bias. 'As we age … we have changes in our neuromuscular strength,' she says. 'If we are involved in a crash, regardless of whether it's our fault or not, we do have a propensity to be more injured in that crash.' Koppel says there is limited research that has examined whether certain licensing requirements reduce crash rates. A 2004 study by MUARC concluded that jurisdictions with age-based mandatory assessment programs did not have lower crash rates than Victoria. Another study concluded that mandatory assessment programs had no 'demonstrable safety benefits' for older driver fatalities or other road user fatalities. Swinburne University's Dr Amie Hayley, who has a research interest in impaired driving, pointed to a 2023 study which found after mandatory cognitive screening for Japanese drivers over 75 was introduced in 2017, there was a decrease in vehicle collisions but an increase in road injuries among older people as pedestrians and cyclists. Hayley says Japan's screening tool is intended to capture the most severe forms of decline, including dementia. She says the results suggest that a simple cognitive screen can be useful to identify groups potentially most at risk. In Victoria, there is no mandate for GPs to inform VicRoads if they have concerns about a person's fitness to drive. South Australia and the Northern Territory are the only Australian jurisdictions that legally require certain health professionals, including GPs, to report a patient's medical condition to the licensing authority if they believe it makes them unfit to drive safely. Dr Kate Gregorevic, a Melbourne-based geriatrician, says the gold standard is an on-the-road driving assessment with an occupational therapist. She says a lack of mandated age-based assessments in Victorian means conversations about driving in older age are not normalised. 'The reality is, as people get older, they're more likely to have conditions that impact driving, things like cardiovascular conditions, things like diabetes, but particularly dementia,' she says. 'Some people will decide they're not going to drive at night any more. Some people will decide that they're only going to drive in their local area. But unfortunately, particularly people living with dementia don't have the insight to make these kinds of decisions for themselves.' Gregorevic, who works predominately in hospitals, says telling people they are unfit to drive is challenging. 'I never enjoy telling someone that they're not able to drive,' she says. Dr Anita Muñoz, the Victorian chair of the Royal Australian College of General Practitioners (RACGP), says mandatory testing could mean a driver outsources the responsibility for making a decision to drive to a third party. 'It can give people a false sense of confidence that nothing will happen if they get behind the wheel,' she says. Muñoz says older Australians and people with chronic illnesses should see their GP regularly to discuss their fitness to drive. Council on the Ageing Victoria opposes mandatory driving tests for older motorists, saying they constituted an 'ageist' and 'arbitrary' approach that failed to reflect the variation in experiences of ageing. The chief executive of the council, Ben Rogers, says it continues to support Victoria's approach, which 'emphasise[s] your behaviour and medical fitness to drive'. 'Ageing is undoubtedly connected to changes that may impact the ability of older people to drive – such as vision loss, hearing loss and slower movement and response times – but these can impact Victorian drivers of any age,' he said in a statement.
