It was a terrible start to the Queens Birthday long weekend when an accident occurred on Friday on Harden’s main road.
Early on Friday morning at about 9am a utility being driven by a 54-year-old man from Young collided with an 84-year-old Harden man who at the time was riding a motorised scooter across a pedestrian crossing on Albury Street.
Unfortunately the Harden gentleman, Noel Carberry, was knocked from his scooter and on impact with the road suffered serious head and chest injuries.
Mr Carberry was treated at the scene by bystanders, before being transported to Harden Hospital via ambulance and then later being transferred by Southcare Helicopter to Canberra Hospital.
The road was closed to through traffic until late in the afternoon while crime scene investigators and detectives carried out extensive examinations of the scene.
Mr Carberry remained on life support in Canberra Hospital in a critical condition until Wednesday when he passed away while surrounded by family members.
Mr Carberry was known as a loving and caring family man and a much loved resident of the town and will be sadly missed by all who knew him.
At time of going to print there were no funeral details known.
The notorious intersection, where the accident happened, has seen a number of vehicle collisions in recent years and police are saying it is a timely reminder for drivers to be vigilant when driving in and around pedestrian crossings.
The male driver has assisted police with their enquiries into the matter.
Detectives from Cootamundra are currently investigating the matter and are appealing for any witnesses to the accident to come forward and contact either Cootamundra Police on 6942 0099 or Crimestoppers on 1800 333 000.
The Harden accident was only one of two major motor vehicle accidents reported over the Queens Birthday long weekend with police from Cootamundra Local Area Command participating in the state wide operation ‘Stay Alert’.
Over the days of Friday, Saturday, Sunday and Monday both Highway Patrol and general duties police focused on the contributing factors to fatal and serious injury motor vehicle collision, including speeding, restraint, fatigue and drink driving as well as general compliance.
Throughout the Cootamundra Local Area Command, police conducted 3366 breath tests with only seven prescribed concentration of alcohol (PCA) offences being detected.
353 Penalty notices were issued, of these 168 were for exceeding the speed limit.
“Three hundred and fifty three infringement notices issued for a smaller country area shows we still have a lot of work to do in getting the message out there,” said Team Leader Cootamundra Highway Patrol, Sergeant Dan Moylan.
“In comparison, larger city areas such as Wagga and Wollongong issued only 81 and 88 infringement notices for exceeding the speed limit.”
Despite the high number of penalty notices issued, the results for the operation weren’t all negative.
“Generally, we didn’t experience as many of the higher speeds that we have in the past and the number of PCA offences across the command was relatively low,” Mr Moylan said.
Over the long weekend only two major motor vehicle collisions were reported with unfortunately one of those resulting in fatal injuries to an 84-year-old Harden man, which is still under investigation.
“There is no getting around the fact that driving a vehicle is a big responsibility,” Mr Moylan said.
“It all comes down to choices.
“By choosing to do the wrong thing, drivers are risking their own and others safety.
“While we would prefer to be encouraging safe driving, we won’t shy away from taking appropriate action to protect the majority who are doing the right thing.”
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