Bus driver charged after double fatality crash, NSW

The driver of a bus involved in a double fatal collision on the final day of Operation Safe Return has been charged and will appear in court later today.

Operation Safe Return, the State’s January long weekend road safety operation, started at 12.01am on Friday 25 January 2019 and ended last night (Monday 28 January 2019).

Five people lost their lives on NSW roads during this time, which was two more than when compared to the end of the 2018 operation.

Assistant Commissioner Michael Corboy of the Traffic & Highway Patrol Command, said the most recent of these crashes was last night at Kingsgrove when two men, aged 32 and 44, died after their motor scooter was involved in a crash with a bus and a car.

The 49-year-old bus driver was charged with two counts of dangerous driving occasioning death, negligent driving occasioning death (x2), driver using mobile phone when not permitted and driver not wear seatbelt.

He was refused bail and is due to appear in Sutherland Local Court later today.

Some examples of inappropriate driver behaviour detected during final day of Operation Safe Return include,

Picnic Point: Around 11.10am yesterday Bankstown Highway Patrol stopped a 47-year-old male driver for a random breath test on Henry Lawson Drive Picnic Point after he failed to make a turn from a side street. The roadside breath test returned a positive result. He was arrested and taken to Revesby Police Station where a subsequent breath analysis returned a reading of 0.191. The Bonnyrigg man’s licence was suspended and he was issued with a Field Court Attendance Notice to appear at Bankstown Local Court on 20 February 2019 for the offence of driving with a high range PCA.

Eastern Creek – A teenager who held his licence for six days is off the road for six months after he was detected travelling at nearly 70km/h above the road works speed limit at Eastern Creek on the final day of Operation Safe Return.

About 5.41am yesterday (Monday 28 January 2019), a white Toyota Hilux was detected travelling at 149km/h in an 80km/h road works zone of the M4 at Eastern Creek. Police stopped the Hilux and spoke to the 17-year-old driver.

The South Granville teenager produced a renewal slip indicating he obtained his licence six days ago. He was issued an infringement notice for exceeding the speed limit by more than 45km/h and not displaying P plates. His licence of six days was suspended for a period of six months.

Key statistics (Cumulative total – started on 25 January 2019):

Total infringements issued (not speeding): 8257

Speed infringements: 4584

Breath tests: 190,870

Drink-driving charges: 271

Lives lost: 5

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