The condition of the road surface on a bend on the northern approach into Bermagui is being blamed for another serious crash involving a motorcyclist.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
Saturday’s incident comes almost exactly a year after a motorcyclist was killed at the same spot after losing control and colliding with an oncoming utility.
Around 2.50pm on Saturday, a husband and wife from Albion Park, NSW, were riding their motorbikes on the Wallaga Lake Rd into Bermagui.
Narooma Police said the female was riding a trike and failed to negotiate a bend, travelled across the road, up an embankment and hit a small tree before being thrown from the trike.
Police and Ambulance attended, with paramedics treating the female at the location.
As she had had suspected spinal injuries, the rider was placed on a spinal board and transported to Dickinson Oval, Bermagui, where she was airlifted by Snowy Hydro SouthCare Helicopter to the Canberra Hospital. She also suffered bruising and swelling to the head, a broken upper right arm, and possible fractured ribs, Narooma Police said.
In September 2015, a motorcyclist in his 50s died at the scene after he allegedly lost control, crossed the centre line and collided with a utility being driven by a man from the local area.
After that crash there were calls from locals to repair the road surface and/or reduce the speed limit from the current 100kmh.
The same 100kmh corner was also the scene of a serious head-on collision in 2010 involving the 18-year-old son of then state minister Steve Whan and a local couple. That incident saw five of the six occupants involved, including Lachlan Whan, airlifted or transported by ambulance to hospital with serious injuries.
Bermagui resident Michael Brown is among the locals concerned about the road surface as this is just the latest incident on the corner.
He went to Bega Valley Shire Council on Monday to make a complaint and check on the progress of any repairs.
“I nearly had an accident at the same spot a week ago and a car ran off the road there last week. We need to get it fixed before someone else dies,” he said.
Mr Brown also took issue with council’s maintenance program of potholes in the centre of Bermagui across from the Saltwater Cafe, which despite numerous fixes were still coming up on the roadway.