Ballarat man Stewart O’Meara was walking with his girlfriend to the CBD on an ordinary Friday night when within seconds their lives changed dramatically.
He remembers crossing the road at the intersection of Doveton and Little Clyde streets in Soldiers Hill before waking up in an ambulance roaring down the Western Freeway to The Alfred after they had been hit by a car.
Mr O’Meara is now speaking out in the hope all road users take care following a string of highly publicised collisions in Ballarat this month.
“I remember everything right up to being hit,” he said yesterday.
“I can remember walking on the footpath of Little Clyde Street – we were talking about acorns because they were everywhere in the gutter – I remember stepping over them before looking out over the bike lane. Then that’s it.”
Both Mr O’Meara and his girlfriend were seriously injured in the crash after being hit by the car that threw them onto bitumen.
Mr O’Meara suffered bleeding to his brain and a broken skull, with doctors choosing to take him to The Alfred, where he remained for a week. His girlfriend also spent a week at Ballarat Base Hospital.
“Cars can come from nowhere,” he said.
“You’ve really got to be on the ball. They can just come from nowhere, I’ve looked to the right and looked to the left and then down it has come.”
It’s understood the driver stopped and immediately dialled triple-0.
Mr O’Meara’s injuries on April 6 came just weeks before an elderly man was hit by a car on Sturt Street.
Ballarat councillor Des Hudson, who is a police officer and has a strong interest in community safety, said it was important for everyone to be aware of vulnerable road users such as pedestrians and cyclists.
“When you look at the total number of people crossing the roads many perform that task every day and from time to time incidents do happen when people are injured, from minor to fatal injuries,” he said.
“But it’s up to all of us to do that risk assessment, to choose the safest location to cross and make sure we’ve got enough time and take into account our surroundings.”
Inspector Trevor Cornwill, who oversees Ballarat’s Highway Patrol officers, has also spoken of vulnerable road users.
“People need to be aware of their surroundings, take the time to stop,” he previously said.
For now, Mr O’Meara is out of action but hopes to return to work as a car restorer in just over a month.
In the past 10 years, 444 pedestrians lost their lives on Victorian roads, according to the TAC.
