Video footage has emerged from inside the car involved in Saturday’s quadruple fatality before it crashed into a tree, killing three teenagers and a 31-year-old woman in south-west Victoria.
The footage shows the car travelling along a narrow country road over the shoulder of the driver as music plays, before zooming into the speedometer.
In the video, a young male voice asks, “What’s the speed bro? … What speed are we doing?”
A female voice replies, “130”, to which the male responds “sweet”.
Police confirmed the red Toyota Corolla was travelling at extremely high speed on Wannon-Nigretta Falls Road near Bochara, before the driver lost control. No charges have been laid.
The sole survivor of the crash, a 17-year-old girl, remains in a serious but stable condition with upper body injuries at Melbourne’s Alfred hospital.
The father of one of the teen victims, 15-year-old Joshua Elmes, confirmed the video was uploaded by his son to Snapchat the night of the crash.
“A friend of Josh’s showed me a video Josh had uploaded on Snapchat that same night of the crash,” Matthew Elmes told ABC Radio Melbourne on Tuesday morning.
“He’s in the backseat of the vehicle filming and he asked someone what speed are we doing? And they replied 130 and Josh said sweet – and I just think to myself, if only he had said, ‘that’s a bit too fast guys, can we slow down?’”
“If he had stood up and said that, then maybe this wouldn’t have happened. And I just want to encourage young people if they’re in a car where dangerous activities are happening, please have the strength to speak up and say something because it might prevent something like this happening again,” Elmes said.
Elmes, speaking with his wife, Lee Ann Elmes, said they still did not know at this stage who was driving the car.
Lee Ann Elmes said the family will not hold anything against whoever was driving the car.
Elmes remembered her son as a “larrikin” and “great mate” who loved his family, friends, and cadet cohort.
“I kick myself when I shouldn’t, but when Josh walked out that Saturday morning, heading out the door, I phoned him and I said ‘mate where are you heading off to?’”
Elmes said she asked her son not to be out too late, reminding him he needed sleep and had already been out late the night before.
“He said ‘Mum I’ll see you soon.’ And those are my last words I had to him,” Elmes said.
She said she regretted not suggesting they go on the walk together, which might have prevented him from getting in the car that night.
She urged other parents to “drop what you can” and spend time with their children as often as possible.
The Bochara crash is part of what has been described as a horror week on Victorian roads with nine live lost.
The road toll stands at 131 deaths to date this year, 33 more than at the same time in 2022.
