Two people were injured after their car smashed into shops on Summer Street causing significant damage on Sunday night.
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Police said a 30-year old man suffered cuts to his head while a 28 year old woman, also from Orange, suffered a suspected fractured arm. A girl, 4, was in the back seat and survived uninjured.
All three were taken to hospital after the crash occurred at 8.40pm.
Canobolas Local Area Command duty officer Inspector Linda Bradbury said the cause of the accident was still being assessed and no charges had been laid.
She said the car was travelling east along Summer St and it appeared the driver had lost control after going over the railway crossing.
The car smashed into the front of an empty shop that was under renovation, and Craig Jaques’ surveying business.
Mr Jaques said the car had smashed the front of the empty shop, crashed into the dividing wall to his shop and had structurally damaged his shop, the awning above and his shopfront.
“It’s done a bit of structural damage. The shopfront, it’s stuffed. It’s all bent and twisted,” he said.
“The whole thing has been shunted by the impact.”
Mr Jaques said initial investigations indicated the awning was damaged and may need to be propped up. “It sticks out a bit more than the other ones and for years it’s been hit by trucks.”
And he said the crash was affecting his ability to do business.
“We can’t get our door open. People have to come around the back.”
He said that stretch of Summer Street was notorious for people speeding.
“They’re always racing through here. It’s been going on for years.
“They take off at the hump and if the lights are green they punt it right up to the Pizza Hut.”
The owner of the empty shop said on Monday he was awaiting a report by the insurance assessors to find out how just how much damage had been done.
He said he owned both the damaged shop and the pawn shop next door. It survived unscathed but was delayed in being able to open for business on Monday as assessors checked for any damage.
On Monday accident rubble, including a smashed up rubbish bin, littered the footpath. The front bumper bar of the car was lying amid the smashed glass and bricks inside a shop.