Friday 30 December 2011

Bus seriously injures two pedestrians in Lake Street, Cairns

Two young female pedestrians were seriously injured in what Cairns Police have called a "serious traffic crash" this afternoon in the central city.

The incident occurred around 4pm when the two women in their 20's, were crossing Lake Street when they were struck by a bus.

They were transported to Cairns Base Hospital in a serious but stable condition. No one else was injured.

7 comments:

Jayism said...

I also was hit by a bus in the Smithfield Carpark. The driver of the bus gave his details after a witness helped me off the gutter (I was walking in the gutter as there are no footpaths, and pedestrians have the right of way in any carpark.) Anyhow We rang Sunbus after I was released from hospital the next day and they said they would pay for all broken items (Watch, Sunglasses, Phone, Bloodied Shirt, etc) and to email a report. That happened and no response after 4wks so we rang back, and their insurance people said you cannot claim your person items, but if you were in a car they would fix that. They advised us to contact SunBus. One of the Supervisors was rude, dismissive and flat out lied, when he said his bus driver did not have to call the police (which is the law, plus he left after picking up his passengers - no waiting for ambulance or police.) This happened on 25th October, and after making us do all this running around taking photos, getting copies of Doctors and Specialists reports - could have told us from the start they don't cover personal items, even though they are worth a fair bit to replace, is nothing for Sunbus to pay out of their own pocket - Or better yet with all these crashes, they know they only need CPT as Hospitals and Family GP's bulk bill. It's a disgrace, and a a tragedy that this happened just after 2wks with talking with Mr. Supervisor at SunBus.
Thanks Mike for hearing my story, and I hope those girls can do better than I did - maybe a joint law suit? If interested contact me please. My Items to fix and replace cost less than $1500, yet I was off work for 4wks but they are willing to pay that through CPT, it's backward.
@Jayism

Anonymous said...

Not seen the story but...were they crossing with the right-of-way or were they jaywalking like everyone else does in the city. Many tourists seem to think Abbott Street is a Mall.

Jayism said...

@PB - Well they wouldn't be asking for help on CrimeStoppers if they wandered across a road. Plus I'm sure they said it was a Intersection in a newspaper article. As for me I was in a public carpark walking in the gutter (as there was no walkway & garden beyond) - and of course it's a carpark, where 10km/hr speed limit is the speed limit, yet the Doctors said on average and the distance I was dragged he was gaining momentum while going the 180 degree turn before hitting me (25-30km/hr). Sunbus is known for it's disregard for pedestrians (just look at the deaths) and more so cars, there are way more Sunbus -> Car accidents (most of us I'm sure have witness the disregard for traffic as they pull out onto streets, especially in suburbs.)

Thanks Again Mike, keep the story alive for the Victims who because of SunBus' loophole in CPT Insurance that only covers car damage.

Anonymous said...

It is my understanding that when a vehicle turns into a side street it must always give way to pedestrians crossing the road.

Not that many drivers in Cairns would know or even care...especially not SunBus drivers...

Anonymous said...

@Jayism, Stocklands also pretty bad for pedestrians. Terrible bottlenecks at times trying to get out onto Mulgrave or Balaclava. Shocking design of the the car-park access roads, and the buses! I think the laws giving the buses right-of-way in most circumstances have led to a bit of a chip-on-shoulder approach to the road from a few bus-drivers who seem to like to use the bus as a battering ram to enforce their version of right-of-way.

Anonymous said...

Car parks in Cairns are totally car-focused and pedestrian unfriendly. The strange thing is that you become a pedestrian as soon as you leave you car and there is no where safe to walk.At Earlville shopping centre there is virtually nowhere where you can walk safely.

The worst designed car park in the country must be Dan Murphy's on Mulgrave road. Utter and total chaos !!

Next time the relevant planning authorities are on an overseas junket, they could do worse than visiting Ko Samui in Thailand.
They'd arrive at a beautiful, well-designed and very friendly airport with a wonderful tropical look.

And despite the terrible roads and shocking traffic conditions on most of the island they could visit the car park of the Tesco supermarket, which is perfectly designed with easily accessible shady walkways and a sensible layout.

Anonymous said...

Jayism, I advise you to contact a Queensland solicitor on this matter as soon as possible. Since legislative changes a while back, time is now of the essence here in Queensland when it comes to such things.

A couple of years back, a young woman cyclist of my acquaintance had a similar experience to yours when she went through the windscreen of a ute that collected her on the Cook Highway at Clifton Beach. The ute driver, driving north, turned right into Clifton Beach and said he didn't see her as she cycled south along the Cook Highway towards him. To cut a very long story short, her partner telephoned a no-win no-fee firm of solicitors in Brisbane, who acted on her behalf against the driver, against the firm of concreters who employed him, and against the firm's insurers. Having been assured by members of the local Cairns cycling community that she had no chance, and was lucky to get an offer of a new bike from the concreters, eventually she won a handsome payout from the insurers.

I believe the Brisbane firm of solicitors she instructed were KM Splatt & Associates. If you go to their website you will see they have a free-call (1800) number. Whomever you choose, however, time is of the essence. Whomever you engage to represent you, you need to act promptly on your own behalf. You need to act now.