Sarah Walker counts her blessings after her car suffered extensive damage when it rolled on an embankment. Picture: Meagan Trotter.By Sarah Schwager
AN UPPER Beaconsfield woman is lucky to be alive after her car rolled then slid on its roof in wet conditions recently.
Sarah Walker, 24, said she could not believe she had walked away unscathed after her car was crushed almost everywhere but the driver’s side when it skidded along Leppitt Road on its roof.
“It keeps going through my head,” Ms Walker said.
“I look at the car and ask ‘why am I still here?’ It makes you appreciate things, I guess.”
Ms Walker was on her way to Upper Beaconsfield, delivering papers on Wednesday 11 January at about 11am, when her car careered out of control on the wet road in Toomuc Valley.
The car hit an embankment and rolled over then skated on its roof along the embankment before spinning around and landing 43 metres along the road.
Ms Walker said police would be reporting the condition of the road to Cardinia council after attributing the cause of the accident to the poor road conditions.
“I’ve driven that road a million times,” she said. “I knew the car, I knew the road. That’s how easy it is.”
Ms Walker said she could not remember how she climbed out of the car but thinks it might have been through the shattered rearwindow.
Once outside the vehicle she started collecting newspapers and other items which had been thrown from the car and were strewn across the road.
“I couldn’t believe how far stretched my stuff was,” she said.
“At the time I was more upset about the papers getting wet.”
The Star News Group advertising account executive said she unsuccessfully tried to wave down two passing vehicles before finding her mobile phone and calling her parents.
They immediately drove to the scene of the accident while Ms Walker called Triple 0.
She said it took 90 minutes for the police to arrive at the scene of the accident but by then she had left to go to the local doctor.
“Dad pulled the car off the road with his four wheel drive,” she said.
“The police organised for a tow truck but they brought the wrong type of truck so dad did that himself as well.”
Ms Walker walked away from the accident relatively unscathed. She suffered a stiff neck and back, and bruises on her head.
“I’m very lucky, I know that.
“I certainly count my blessings,” she said.
“It was my birthday the following Monday. Dad said to me I might have been dead before my 24th birthday.
“It certainly makes you think.”
Ms Walker said she felt it was karma after winning $5000 in a Nova 100 competition last year.
However, she did not believe it was a fair trade.
