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Tim Pankhurst and his young family almost didn’t make it home from dinner on Saturday night.
His mother-in-law was driving their SUV carrying five other family members, including two young children, along Docker Street towards their Hilltops home when they collided suddenly with a speeding car.
Mr Pankhurst was in the middle seat between his children, aged two and five.
“Just at the last second I saw a car flying down the highway towards Ashmont way, he flew through the lights on the outside lane, we didn’t have time to break,” he said.
“Fortunately, we weren’t a second earlier or he would have hit us on the side.
“He was absolutely flying.”
Running a red light at the intersection at Edward and Docker streets, the crash saw the speeding car skid and take out a set of traffic lights. The two vehicles involved were completely destroyed.
The 29-year-old Wagga driver was allegedly going 80 kilometres per hour.
Emergency services and police attended the scene after 9.20pm, with multiple bystanders and witnesses about on the busy Saturday night.
Miraculously, nobody was seriously injured, though Mr Pankhurst’s mother-in-law sustained bruising to her legs.
The driver was taken to Wagga police station where he underwent a breath test and was charged with a mid-range prohibited concentration of alcohol offence. If convicted, it will be his second drink-driving offence within five years.
Mr Pankhurst said the man was clearly drunk and showed “no remorse” for the accident he caused.
“He was very agitated, yelling at everyone and saying it wasn’t his fault,” he said.
“It doesn’t matter how good a driver you are or what you do on the road, it only takes one idiot to not think about the consequences.
“It can ruin multiple families’ lives.”
The man was charged with a mid-range PCA, driving while suspended and reckless driving and will face Wagga Local Court on October 11.
“Obviously he’s a real danger to the public if he’s got that kind of attitude towards his driving,” Inspector Andrew Spliet said.
Mr Pankhurst said multiple community members rushed to the aid of the shaken family.
“We might have come across one goose but we also came across 20 people who wanted to help and used their own time to make sure we were OK,” he said.