School holidays saved a Munruben car accident yesterday afternoon from being a lot worse, nearby residents say.
Munruben Forest locals said they heard a loud bang as a car hit a power pole in the accident, in an area where a school bus drops kids off.
A man in his 20s was taken to Princess Alexandra Hospital in a stable condition after the smash on Carter Road about 4.30pm.
Witnesses said the man's car hit a fence and then a power pole in a 60km/h zone.
The man who was first on scene said he thought the driver would not have survived.
"He wasn't moving at first," the man, who did not want to give his name, said.
"He was twisted around. His back was leaning up against the pillar and his head was up against the pole."
The man had been working out in his front room when he heard the car lose control.
He said he stood up in time to see the car go past his front window.
"It was just a white blur and then dust," the man said.
"His tail lights were 20 metres down my driveway. There was glass and plastic everywhere.'
The man said it was lucky he was not leaving his house at the time.
"The sound and everything, it was sickening," he said.
"I have had people who walk past the house tell me they don't want to walk around here anymore."
One woman, who lives 200 metres from the crash site, said the bang sounded like gunfire.
The woman was speaking to her husband on the phone at the time of the crash.
He heard a loud bang nearby, but initially thought it was gunshots or a loud motorbike which had passed the house seconds before the accident.
She was then overtaken by emergency services on their way to the scene.
The woman said the accident could have been disastrous. Bystanders could have been seriously hurt or killed if it had have happened on another day.
"We have no kerb and guttering or anything to protect houses from this," she said.
She said the area was usually packed with school children at that time of the afternoon.
"It's school holidays at the moment, but the school bus drops kids off there," she said.
"There are usually people walking along there.
"It could have been so much worse.
"It was absolutely awful."
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