Single carriageway claims another life



Julia can find $46 BILLION to build a white-elephant fibre network but can't find the money to make Australia's major North/South road safe?? Insane priorities

The single-carriageway stretch of the Pacific Highway where a male motorist was killed in a fiery collision with a semi-trailer was only 500 metres from where two elderly women were killed in a crash just weeks ago.

A 30-year-old Alstonville man died after he was thrown from his southbound Subaru when it collided with a northbound semi-trailer at Warrell Creek, just south of Macksville, at 4am yesterday. The semi-trailer, which was loaded with chemicals, almost immediately burst into flames and incinerated both vehicles.

Despite the inferno, the 52-year-old semi driver was able to get far enough away from the blaze that he suffered only minor injuries. He was released from hospital yesterday.

The fire left little more than a charred wreck and closed the highway to traffic in both directions for 11 hours.

Investigators are examining whether the collision occurred because the Subaru was trying to pass another truck on a no-overtaking section of the highway. It is believed the Subaru crossed to the other side of the road and struck the semi-trailer going the opposite way.

The crash occurred 500 metres north of a roadside memorial erected to mark where two sisters, aged 77 and 78, from Tuncurry died in a head-on collision on February 16.

Five kilometres north of that site a man was killed in October 2009 when his car was ripped in half after going under a truck as he tried to overtake two semi-trailers.

It took fire crews more than two hours to extinguish the fire yesterday. Firefighters had only limited access to water because of the remote location.

SOURCE

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