A routine Tuesday night patrol on Queensland’s Sunshine Coast turned into a potential tragedy when a heavily intoxicated driver careened down the wrong side of a major arterial road, forcing a police officer to execute a last-second evasive swerve to avoid a catastrophic head-on collision, newly released dashcam footage shows.
The incident unfolded just before 9 p.m. on Frizzo Connection Road in Palmview, where the 26-year-old driver from Morayfield was operating a silver Honda Jazz hatchback northbound in the designated southbound travel lane, according to Queensland Police. Police allege the vehicle was traveling at speeds exceeding 100 km/h in a posted 60 km/h zone, leaving the oncoming marked police patrol car almost no time to react.
Released police dashcam footage captures the harrowing sequence: the wrong-way vehicle comes hurtling into view around a bend in the dark, prompting the officer to immediately swerve off the roadway to avoid impact. The two vehicles narrowly miss a head-on crash, and the officer quickly pulls over the alleged driver on nearby Pignata Road to confront her.
Body-worn and dashcam footage captured the immediate exchange after the stop, when the officer asked the woman to explain her dangerous actions. She simply replied, “I freaked out,” to which the officer responded, “You freaked out? You almost hit me head on.”
Following the stop, police administered a breath test that returned a blood alcohol concentration of 0.204 percent, more than four times the maximum legal limit for driving in Queensland. In a startling exchange captured on footage after her arrest, the woman asked officers whether the Maroochydore Police Station offered free Wi-Fi, a request the attending officer confirmed.
Maroochydore Sergeant Darren Nolan, a 38-year veteran of Queensland Police, described the incident as one of the most egregious cases of reckless driving he has ever encountered. “It is the most dangerous and reckless display of driving I have personally witnessed in my 38 years of policing,” Sergeant Nolan said in an official police statement. “It was just pure luck and fortune that no one was seriously injured or even worse, killed.”
The 26-year-old woman has been formally charged with two offences: dangerous operation of a motor vehicle while impaired by an intoxicating substance, and driving under the influence of liquor. She is scheduled to make her first appearance at Maroochydore Magistrates Court on April 28.