A man is due to face court after two people died in a horror crash involving four cars on Sydney’s ANZAC Bridge.
The pair collided just before 11.50pm on Friday on the citybound lanes of the bridge near the Pyrmont exit, and stopped to exchange details when a Holden Commodore allegedly smashed into them.
Police believe the man, 38, and woman, 25, were standing on the road at the time of the fatal crash.
A Toyota Camry taxi also became involved in the chaos.
The Lidcombe woman, who had also been driving a Toyota Camry, and the Hurstville man, who had been behind the wheel of a Holden Captiva at the time of the initial crash, both died at the scene.
The 41-year-old Burwood man driving the Commodore was taken to Royal Prince Alfred Hospital to be treated for injuries sustained in the crash and for mandatory testing.
He was released but was arrested about 7.30pm Saturday after investigators from the Crash Investigation Unit attended his home.
The driver was taken to Burwood Police Station where he was charged with two counts of dangerous driving occasioning death – drive manner dangerous, and negligent driving occasioning death.
He has been refused bail and will face Parramatta Bail Court on Sunday.
The man driving the taxi was taken to Sydney Eye Hospital for mandatory testing.
Superintendent Toynton told media on Saturday morning the situation was “absolutely tragic”.
“The way those vehicles have collided into the stationary cars, has impacted with the two pedestrians who were out on the road exchanging details and unfortunately those two people have been killed,” he said.
“This is an absolutely tragic incident of road trauma, and absolutely tragic for the families of those people that are now going to be grieving the loss of family members this close to Christmas.”
Police and specialist investigators from the Crash Investigation Unit have established appealed to the public for any dashcam vision of the incident, or the circumstances leading up to it.
Superintendent Toynton said the “actions of the second two vehicles” would be of particular interest to investigators.
“One of the things that will be a focus of the police investigation is what the second two vehicles were doing prior to the collision,” he said.
“One of the focuses will be was speed a factor? Were alcohol and drugs a factor in the collision?”
Superintendent Toynton said Friday night’s horror was not the only fatal incident in the 24-hour period, with six people in total losing their lives in road accidents across the state.
“Six people have lost their lives. Six families are grieving the loss of family members – and short couple of weeks from Christmas, we know there will be six people who aren’t at family tables this year having meals with their families. It’s absolutely tragic,” he said.
A man was killed after his van hit a wall at Frenchs Forest about 3.15am on Saturday, a 70-year-old woman was killed in Goulburn about 6pm on Friday, and a 54-year-old died in Moruya after crashing his motorbike.
Superintendent Toynton included a 17-year-old schoolboy killed on Thursday after he was hit by a car driven by a 90-year-old woman.
The car mounted the kerb and struck the boy, injuring a second 17-year-old student in the process.
The officer made a strong plea to drivers across the state to keep their focus on the road.
“One of the things that police are asking people to do is, when you’re driving your motor vehicle, make sure you keep your attention on what’s in front of you. You need to make sure you’re sticking to the speed limit and please, please don’t drink and drive or use drugs before you get behind the wheel.”
“We’ve seen time and time again that these factors contribute to road trauma every single day and one of the things we need to do, is we need to look at the statistics. Sixty per cent of road fatalities in New South Wales are linked to speeding.
“One of the things that we’ve seen time and time again on the road is people’s inattention causes collisions. And even a minor collision can result in an absolute tragedy, and people can lose their lives.