Alleged hoon in fiery crash at SA school hours after police issue road safety plea

An alleged hoon driver has been charged over a fiery crash that destroyed his car and damaged a school fence, hours after SA Police issued a plea for safety amid a surging road toll.

Police said the man was spotted doing burnouts on Tabora Crescent at Salisbury North before he lost control of the vehicle about 2:30am, hitting a fence on nearby Uraidla Avenue.

The car caught fire but the driver — a 29-year-old man from Elizabeth South — and a passenger were able to escape before flames gutted the sedan.

The driver was charged with driving while disqualified and without due care, as well as property damage, and will face court next month.

The passenger, a 27-year-old man also from Elizabeth South, was taken to the Lyell McEwin Hospital with minor injuries.

Yesterday evening, a motorcyclist was airlifted to hospital with critical injuries after a separate crash at Sandy Creek.

The man’s bike left the road about 5:30pm and crashed into a fence along the Barossa Valley Way.

Police said the 39-year-old from Davoren Park sustained life-threatening injuries and remained in a critical condition at the Royal Adelaide Hospital.

Both crashes occurred just hours after police and SA Premier Steven Marshall pleaded with drivers to take better care, following the deaths of two young men in the Barossa Valley.

Alex Wait and Harley Litzow were killed when their ute slammed into a tree on Angaston Road.

“This is the state’s worst start for road deaths in more than a decade. Police are continually frustrated that the message in relation to safety on our roads is not getting through,” Superintendent Shane Addison said on Saturday afternoon.

“Every driver must take responsibility and ultimately that is the only way to reduce the road toll and to reduce the continuing loss of lives on our roads.”