Quick thinking by driver saves the life of another at Coffs Harbour

AUSTRALIA Day 2026 marked the first time Mid North Coast resident Lesley McDonald met the man who saved her life.

Inspired to nominate her rescuer, David Cole from Coffs Harbour, for Senior Citizen of the Year, Mrs McDonald was delighted when he was selected as a final nominee and invited to attend the awards ceremony.

She made sure she arrived early at the event, and the pair met, consciously, for the first time.

The last time they met, she was unconscious and unaware.

“We never got to meet when I had the accident, so it is amazing to be face-to-face with David now and I can say thank you properly,” she told News Of The Area.

The accident happened in 2025 as Mrs McDonald was driving home from Coffs Harbour on the Pacific Highway near the Windmill.

“I’d been to the doctor for a procedure and didn’t feel too good; I felt faint.

“I thought I’d go off to the left but in fact I must have fainted, pressed my right foot down on the accelerator and veered off across the meridian with my right foot still down.”

Mr Cole was driving past in his truck when he saw the alarming sight of a car accelerating with the woman driver slumped over the steering wheel.

With quick thinking, he accelerated to get in front of Mrs McDonald’s car.

“Once I had my truck in front of her car, I lined the two vehicles up with my side mirrors and slowed down to allow her car bonnet to go under the back of my truck,” he recounted.

“I pulled her up, her tyres were smoking, I got into the car where she was still unconscious, turned the ignition off, put the handbrake on.”

Ambulances quickly arrived at the scene.

Mr Cole, who was driving his work truck for Faircloth & Reynolds, said the ambulance attendants repeatedly commented, “That’s unbelievable man”.

Mr Cole later presented Mrs McDonald with the bouquet of flowers he had received as a nominee.

By Andrea FERRARI