Tragic crash a mystery

POLICE believe a car veered on to the wrong side of the road before colliding head-on with a truck at Longford yesterday morning, killing a 27year-old Launceston woman.

Tasmania Police Inspector Scott Flude said there was “no explanation” yet as to why the car the woman was driving veered across Illawarra Rd about 5am.

The crash happened in a 100km/h zone but Insp Flude said police were unaware how fast the car and truck were travelling before the collision.

“We believe it was raining heavily at the time; certainly that's been a factor involved in three or four crashes today,” he said.

“Obviously we'd ask anyone that saw this truck or the red Kia at that time of the morning to contact police.”

Insp Flude said the 63-yearold truck driver, an Evandale man, had been taken to the Launceston General Hospital with minor injuries.

Police appealed to motorists to drive to conditions after a spate of incidents across the North in yesterday morning's wet weather. One car collided with a wire barrier on the Bass Highway after aquaplaning.

“There were a number of crashes as a result of cars just going too fast and aquaplaning, cars following other cars too closely,” Insp Flude said.

“Obviously the braking is inhibited greatly with the amount of water we had this morning.”