Alcohol and speed have been ruled out as possible causes of a horror crash involving a bunch of pedestrians, including five children, in the Victorian coastal resort town of Lorne.
Police say a Holden station wagon driven by a 62-year-old man from Castle Hill, in Sydney's northwest, swerved on a bend in Mountjoy Parade, Lorne's main beachside street, striking the pedestrians, including two family groups, just before 4pm (AEDT) on Tuesday.
The station wagon finally came to rest on top of two parked cars.
Thirteen people were injured in all, including the driver and his wife and son.
Two Coburg boys, one aged eight who sustained a fractured foot and a 10-year-old with bruising to his chest, were taken to Geelong Hospital where they remain in stable condition.
Their father was also taken to the same hospital with bruising but was later discharged.
A 42-year-old Caulfield South man was also taken to Geelong Hospital with a bleeding kidney along with a 37-year-old Moonee Ponds woman who had a foot fracture.
Two Moonee Ponds girls aged three and six were flown to Melbourne's Royal Children's Hospital and their conditions are reported to be stable.
A 45-year-old woman was airlifted to the Royal Melbourne Hospital, where she also remains in a stable condition.
Two other people were taken to Lorne Community Hospital.
Victoria Police Senior Constable Adam Woods described the scene as "fairly horrific".
"There were a lot of pedestrians that were struck - 10 in total and five of those were children," he told ABC Radio.
"If anyone's got children, you can understand it's fairly traumatic to see that sort of thing.
"At the scene, we breath-tested the driver and eliminated alcohol as one of the factors and also from rough witnesses' accounts suggest that he was within the speed limit. We've still got to follow that up and make some more inquiries today," Snr Const Woods said.
"He is adamant that he had sufficient rest along the way and gave us details of where he stopped and how far he travelled that day.
"Having spoken to him it seems that fatigue was not a factor. I think it's just a lapse of concentration in a very poor spot where there's a huge amount of pedestrian traffic and just that one bit of driver error has caused all that happened yesterday.
"As you can imagine, Lorne this time of year is a very busy place, Mountjoy Parade being the main street there's a lot of traffic and a lot of pedestrian traffic as well.
"Incidents do occur but nothing to this magnitude."
The driver has been interviewed and is likely to be charged on summons for careless driving, while other charges may be applicable depending on other information from witnesses.
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