Vic: A lack of concentration behind fatal accidents - Police

AAP General News (Australia)
12-03-2006
Vic: A lack of concentration behind fatal accidents - Police

By Shelley Markham

MELBOURNE, Dec 3 AAP - A desperate appeal for road users to concentrate has been made
by a senior Victorian traffic officer after the number of fatalities reached double figures
since Friday.

Two cars collided head-on about 1pm (AEDT) today on the Goulburn Valley Highway near
Nagambie, in central Victoria.

The driver and only occupant of one car, a man aged in his 30s, died at the scene.

The man driving the second car, who was also travelling alone, was airlifted to The
Alfred hospital in Melbourne, in a critical condition.

Acting Inspector Mick Talbot from the Major Collision Investigation unit travelled
from his home at Kyneton, in central Victoria to Melbourne today to make an urgent appeal
for drivers to concentrate.

His appeal comes after 10 people died on the state's roads and a 13-year-old boy was
killed in an off-road trailbike accident, since 5.30pm on Friday.

Insp Talbot said the weather had been dry and he could only put the spate of fatal
accidents down to a loss of concentration by road users.

"In anybody's terms that's a lot of people," Insp Talbot said.

"Each person that drives a car, rides a bike or is a pedestrian, must take responsibility
for what they do," he said.

"Pay attention to what you are doing. If you don't, it will be you, you will be a statistic."

"I'm tired of standing up here telling people to slow down, to pay attention and drive
as best they can."

A woman died in Montrose, in Melbourne's east, last night when a small Ford sedan hit
a Ford Bronco head on, about 9.10pm.

A 20-year-old Kilsyth woman died at the scene while two other people in the car were
uninjured. The driver of the Bronco was also seriously injured.

A 27-year-old pedestrian from Wodonga also died last night when he was hit by a bus
while walking on the Hume Highway near Bowser, in Victoria's north.

Police said the man was believed to have been walking along a fog line - a white line
on the edge of the highway - when the bus struck him.

The deaths follow a spate of four road fatalities yesterday that left police calling
for drivers to slow down and take care.

There were also three deaths on Friday.

In addition to the 10 road deaths, a trailbike rider was killed in an off-road crash
yesterday at Hazelwood, in south-east Victoria, and was not counted in the road toll.

Insp Talbot said it was particularly disturbing that six of the accidents, including
the off-road crash, had involved motorcyclists.

"That's a significant over-representation of motorcycle riders (in the road toll) in
Victoria," he said.

"That's too many, too many in anyone's words."

Today's death near Nagambie brings Victoria's road toll to 310, two fewer than for
the same time last year.

AAP sam/gfr/cjh/de

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