HELL ON OUR ROADS
Published Date: 17 Jan 2014
Summary
Daily Liberal By Mark Rayner
Two serious accidents less than 24 hours apart on the region's roads have left one woman dead and other man taken by helicopter to Orange Base Hospital.
A 50-year-old woman died when her car collided with a truck on the Tomingley Road, 30 kilometres south of Narromine, on Wednesday afternoon.
The crash occurred at 3.55pm and was attended by Orana Local Area Command officers, paramedics, Volunteer Rescue Association and the Rural Fire Service.
The truck driver, a 55 year-old man, was treated by NSW Ambulance Paramedics, before being taken to Dubbo Base Hospital for mandatory drug and alcohol tests.
Traffic diversions were in place for the remainder of the evening and well into the night.
Police are preparing a report for the information of the Coroner following the death of the woman.
Initial inquiries suggest fatigue may have been a factor in the crash but police are yet to confirm it.
Emergency services also responded to a triple-0 call at 11.08am yesterday on the Newell Highway, 50 kilometres north of Dubbo.
The 62-year-old male driver was trapped in the vehicle, suffering a partial scalping after his Toyota Hilux utility left the road, went through a fence and rolled.
The car was travelling south from Gilgandra when it swerved onto the wrong side of the road towards an oncoming truck, before overcorrecting and leaving the road.
A 64-year-old passenger suffered minor injuries in the incident but was otherwise unharmed.
She was taken to Dubbo Base Hospital for treatment for minor cuts and bruises.
It took NSW Police, RFS, State Emergency Service personnel and paramedics more than an hour to remove the man from the vehicle before he was airlifted to Orange Base Hospital. He is believed to be in a stable condition but Greater Western Area Health were unable to confirm.
There have been a string of serious incidents in the past week.
A four-year-old died in a single-vehicle accident at Mendooran while there have been two hit-and-runs in the region, one involving a 19-year-old man at Narromine and another on Tuesday when a 44-year-old man near Forbes was run over while sleeping in his swag.
Both men are in critical but stable conditions in Westmead Hospital.
View the WIN TV News story.
