Deadly holiday weekend on roads
17 deaths and counting
It’s been a horror Easter weekend on Australia’s roads, claiming the lives of at least 17 people and sparking urgent warnings from the nation’s police.
A 25-year-old man has been charged with multiple offences, including dangerous driving causing death, when his allegedly stolen Ford Escape allegedly struck a Mitsubishi Mirage, killing a 39-year-old woman.
Emergency services rushed to Booral Rd, Sunshine Acres on Queensland’s Fraser Coast about 10.15pm on Sunday, where they found the woman dead at the scene.
A 62-year-old man and a 54year-old female, who police said were a couple, also died in a three-car crash in Penola – a town about 388km southeast of Adelaide.
The crash between the Ford sedan, a Ford ute and a Tesla happened about 5.15pm Sunday.
On Sunday afternoon, a 69year-old driver died in a fatal collision about 2.15pm, after the man’s car collided with a tree on Edwardstown Rd, South Gundagai in NSW’s Riverina region.
On Friday night, an 80-yearold man died in Campbelltown after being hit by a car about 11.15. The driver, a 26-year-old man, was not injured. In a fatal ATV incident in the state’s southwest, a 54-year-old man died just after 8pm on Friday near Hay, after reportedly swerving to avoid hitting a kangaroo when he flipped.
Meanwhile, a 21-year-old motorcyclist died when he hit a power pole in Sydney’s eastern suburbs on Thursday.
Then, in a separate motorbike incident, a rider died after a crash involving a B-double in the Snowy Mountains on Saturday morning.
Emergency services were called to the Snowy Mountains Highway near Kiandra, about 90km north of Cooma, about 11.15am and found the male rider had died at the scene.
In another fatal motorcycle crash, a 59-year-old man died in Gordon, near Ballarat, on Good Friday. Victorian police were called after reports the rider had lost control and was ejected on the Western Highway about 5.10pm.
Later that evening in Maryvale, Victorian Police responded after a 76-year-old man and his dog were struck by a car about 7.40pm.
The man died on his way to hospital and the dog died at the scene.
In WA, a 19-year-old motorcyclist and a 27-year-old male driver were killed in the state’s southwest on Saturday.
It followed a fatal two-car collision in Lower-Chittering, northwest of Perth, on Thursday morning where a 47-yearold woman and 54-year-old man died.
Another fatality struck at 8.15 on Sunday night at Lathlain when a 30-year-old rider sustained catastrophic injuries and died at the scene.
In the NT two men were killed and a third was injured in a collision on Thursday.
Meanwhile in SA, a 56-yearold man died after his Holden sedan struck a tree in Two Wells after 5pm on Friday.