North Coogee: Man charged after horror early-morning crash on Cockburn Road leaves four in hospital

A Nollamara man has been charged with reckless driving following a North Coogee crash which left himself and three young passengers in hospital.

Four people were taken to hospital after a grey Mercedes-Benz sedan crashed while travelling north on Cockburn Road near the intersection of Bull Road in North Coogee at about 3.50am on Saturday.

Police say the car left the road, rolled and hit a tree next to the road.

The accident left the 24-year-old male driver with serious injuries and two female passengers, aged 18 and 19, with critical injuries, a police spokeswoman said.

They were all taken to Royal Perth Hospital by ambulance for treatment.

According to Royal Perth Hospital the 18-year-old passenger remained in a critical but stable condition in the ICU ward on Saturday afternoon.

The 19-year old passenger and driver also remained in hospital in a stable condition.

A third passenger, a 21-year-old man, only suffered minor injuries and was treated in Fiona Stanley Hospital.

On Saturday afternoon, police charged the driver with dangerous driving causing bodily harm and grievous bodily harm, as well as having no authority to drive.

He will face Perth Magistrates Court via bedside hearing on Sunday.

Police are appealing for anyone who witnessed the crash, or saw the vehicle travelling in the area prior to the incident, to contact Crime Stoppers.

Road Safety Minister Reece Whitby described the incident as “terrible”.

“This is an absolute tragedy, it’s a terrible situation, there are three young people who I understand have been seriously injured,” he said.

“We’re in the middle of a double demerit period long weekend and the message has to go out again that drivers need to be responsible and do everything they can to be safe behind the wheel.”

The crash comes just days after police issued an urgent plea for drivers to drive safely over the school holidays and long weekend.

On Thursday, a 12-year-old girl died in the Great Southern region after two cars collided.

Mr Whitby said the public needed to work with authorities to reduce the road toll.

“We’re looking at what more we can do in the future and there’s going to be some announcements shortly about that,” he said.

“It needs to be personal responsibility, we’ve got safety cameras which show the behaviour of drivers behind the wheel so we’re going to increase enforcement, we’re going to increase our presence on the road, but we need the community to also get involved in this issue.

“Police and Government can’t be solely responsible for road safety.”