2 months ago
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A 77-year-old woman died after she was hit by her own car in a shopping centre car park two days before Christmas on the Sunshine Coast, north of Brisbane.
Emergency services were called to the car park of a Woolworths shopping centre on Poinciana Avenue in Tewantin – about 10 kilometres inland from Noosa Heads – shortly before 4pm on Tuesday.
Police said the woman’s Volkswagen T-Cross rolled backwards, hitting her.
RACQ head of public policy Dr Michael Kane.Credit: Catherine Strohfeldt
Paramedics treated the Tewantin local in the car park for significant head injuries, but she died at the scene.
RACQ head of public policy Michael Kane said drivers turning on their car before beginning to drive, such as to switch on air-conditioning, to wind down windows or to engage entertainment units, needed to treat their own car as a hazard, alongside others on the road.
“It’s so important that your car is always safe, and that is that the handbrake is on, and you’re in park when you are getting out of your car,” he said.
Following a fatal motorbike crash in Narangba on Tuesday night, the 2025 road toll has jumped to 302 – on par with 2024, a 15-year-high.
Kane said the number of fatal traffic accidents in Queensland had climbed steadily since 2020.
But until 2019, the number of deaths on Queensland roads had been falling, he said. That year, the state recorded a record low of 220 road fatalities.
“If we had continued the pre-COVID trend, we would now be seeing figures closer to 200 deaths, not consecutive years over 300,” Kane said.
Police said the woman’s death on Tuesday would not be added to the road toll because she was struck on private property owned by the shopping centre.
Kane cautioned drivers to remain on high alert in car parks, as customers flocked to stores for last-minute present shopping and sales.
“Car parks at Christmastime can be one of the most frustrating places in the world,” he said.
On Wednesday, officers were preparing a report for the coroner.
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