A woman who survived one of Australia’s worst multi-vehicle crashes said she never saw the truck that flew out of the fog to break her nose and left with injuries she is still battling six months later.
Ballarat resident Renee Warton, 31, was driving on the Western Freeway heading to Melbourne for a night shift on December 11 when, despite being warned by colleagues about fog, she almost ran into the series of collisions which occurred around 4 p.m.
“Even traveling at slow speed I barely managed to stop, that’s how thick the fog was. It was crazy actually,” Ms Warton told WhatsNew2Day Australia on Friday.
“It was just the fog that caused it and I think someone had slowed down and other people hadn’t so obviously due to lack of visibility, it was just an explosion… it was a domino effect.”
Ballarat woman Renee Warton was left with a shattered nose, back and neck after being hit by a truck in foggy conditions on Victoria’s Western Freeway.
Police said 30 vehicles in total were involved in the crashes near Myrniong, on Melbourne’s western outskirts, and that one crash involved 14 cars.
“We were traveling at one or two kilometers per hour, crawling; we had emergency lights and the cars were coming very fast,” he said.
“It didn’t matter that the road was clearly dangerous and foggy, the trucks were still speeding and arriving at full speed.
‘We all mutually decided that we were going to honk the horn to try and alert everyone.
“The cars could barely stop next to us. A car almost hit everyone, but managed to stop.
‘When I was looking at him I looked in the rearview mirror and I was hit by a truck.
“I saw my reflection in the mirror when they beat me, I was drowned in blood, it was terrifying.”
The crash caused his head to hit the steering wheel.
“I hit my whole face and gums instantly,” he said.
His first thought upon seeing his reflection was: ‘My God, where are my teeth?’
‘Then I thought, ‘Thank God they’re still in my head.’
“But I saw my nose and I was like, ‘Oh my God.'”
Warton said he did not see the truck before the accident, but that it was the type used to move houses.
Warton said his first instinct was to get out of the wrecked car, but then a man on the freeway yelled at him: “Don’t get out of the car, there are more cars coming.”
Police said 30 vehicles were involved in crashes, the largest being a 14-vehicle crash on the western outskirts of Melbourne on December 11.
“There was a man who wasn’t actually in any of the accidents, he just stopped to help someone,” he said.
“My eyes were fixed on him and I told him: ‘You tell me when to go and I’ll run.'”
‘He guided me on when to get out of the car, met me on the road and I jumped into the middle strip.
‘He sat me down and there was an off-duty paramedic there. I ended up passing out shortly after.”
“I’ve fainted before, so I knew what was happening when my ears started ringing and the paramedic told me, ‘Put your feet up.’
“I said, ‘I’ll be fine,’ I was in shock,” Mrs Warton said.
“I was probably one of the worst injured people because my face was covered in blood. Everyone just said ‘holy hell.’
;I said ‘I’m fine.’ I’m walking and talking, I’m fine. Obviously my nose is very broken.
“I sent the paramedic to help the others.”
Mrs Warton resting at home in a photograph taken shortly before she suffered the horrendous accident.
Around them the chaos continued.
“Accidents kept happening, also on both sides of the road.
“It was just chaotic. I’ve never seen anything like it.
“The emergency services were doing what they could but it was like, ‘where the hell do we start?’
“There was a man in a pickup truck that went up the back of the truck, ended up completely breaking his jaw, breaking all his teeth and ended up with a brain injury,” he said.
‘He’s awake now, thank God. There were a lot of people with spinal injuries.’
When the good Samaritan said he was leaving, Mrs Warton asked if she could hitchhike with him, knowing that ambulances were having difficulty getting through.
She was taken to St John of God Hospital in Ballarat where she was treated for a broken nose, neck and back pain.
“About a week after the accident I felt the full effects and couldn’t move,” Mrs Warton said.
Police and emergency services gradually clear western motorway pile-ups on December 11
She said that after six months the pain “comes in waves” and is made worse by having to constantly look up at her job as a crane operator and rigger.
“I also have to wear a helmet every day and putting that small amount of weight on my neck causes a lot of problems,” he said.
The accident shattered the septum of her nose and left her unable to breathe through her nostrils except five to 10 percent of their capacity on one side.
‘The dream is something huge. “I can’t breathe through my nose so now I have sleep apnea,” said Mrs Warton.
He wakes up several times a night because he “forgets” to leave his mouth open and then he can’t breathe.
Her injuries have restricted her in other ways as well.
“I’m a very active person, but I can’t really do things with my usual abilities,” he said.
The physical injuries are a constant reminder of your accident, but perhaps more traumatic are the psychological scars.
“It’s definitely changed the way I drive,” he said.
Warton said the accident had affected her work as a crane driver and rigger in Melbourne.
‘I’m suffering from really bad PTSD… I’m really nervous about trucks.
“I travel to Melbourne every day from Ballarat to go to work and you find that you are very nervous on the road, if someone comes to an intersection too fast you just get screwed and it gets really frustrating.”
“I’m looking for advice, which is very difficult to get.”
To ensure she receives full coverage for her medical bills, which may include a complete nose reconstruction, Ms Warton has retained Melbourne law firm Slater and Gordon.
He wanted drivers to be more aware when road conditions were dangerous.
‘I want to be able to sleep. I want to be able to breathe properly. I want to be active again,’ she said.
“It’s very frustrating to do the right thing on the road and have someone else take those things away from you.”
‘You have to drive according to the conditions; If you can’t see, don’t speed up and go even slower than you think necessary.
“I want people to realize that a car accident is life-changing and that we all have the power to keep each other safe.”