LUCKY ESCAPE: Wendy Malcolm shows where her car mounted the kerb and crashed through a bollard at the entry to Bonnells Bay Youth and Community Centre. Picture by David Stewart
A BONNELLS Bay woman whose car spun out of control and crashed when it was side-swiped by another vehicle has criticised the unidentified driver for fleeing the accident scene.
"They just left us for dead," Wendy Malcolm told the Lakes Mail this week.
Ms Malcolm was driving her friend Lyta Douglass, of Balcolyn, home from dancing on Tuesday night, February 28, when the incident occurred.
Ms Malcolm said she had just negotiated a roundabout on Fishing Point Road at Bonnells Bay when her Toyota Camry was blind-sided.
"We felt an almighty bang and the two passenger-side windows smashed and showered us with glass," she said.
The impact sent her car into a spin.
"I don't know how many times we spun, but we ended up hitting a bollard out the front of the Bonnells Bay Youth and Community Centre."
The impact was so unexpected that Ms Malcolm wonders if the other vehicle might have been travelling without its headlights on.
She also speculated that the other car might have been trying to overtake her at high speed on the inside, or on the left-hand side.
"The most worrying thing is that the other driver just took off without seeing if we were OK," she said.
After Ms Malcolm's car came to rest, she and Ms Douglass crawled out the driver's side door and raised the alarm.
Before the emergency services arrived, some local residents, including youths, arrived to check on the pair.
"Some teenagers who had heard the crash came to see if we were OK. They were so nice, and they stayed with us until I got a lift home," Ms Malcolm said.
The car was insured, and has since been replaced, but Ms Malcolm said the incident had left her more than $5000 out of pocket.