More than double the number of people have died on New South Wales roads this Christmas compared with last year

This article is more than 2 years old

This article is more than 2 years old

More than double the number of people have died on New South Wales roads this Christmas compared with last year after a horror crash claimed three lives on the south coast.

The Princes Highway at Mondayong near Bendalong was closed in both directions after the crash, in which three people from two cars died on Tuesday morning. Two women were airlifted from the scene in a critical condition.

Earlier in the day, a man was killed in a crash on the NSW mid-north coast. He died at the scene at Pappinbarra, near Port Macquarie, after the car he was travelling in left the road and hit an embankment, according to police.

Another as-yet-unidentified person, believed to be a man, died after the car he was in hit a power pole on Christmas Day near Griffith in the Riverina.



Fourteen people have died on the state’s roads since 15 December, which marked the start of Operation Safe Arrival, the state’s Christmas and new year road safety campaign, compared with seven killed in the same period last year.

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“That is more than one person a day, which is quite alarming,” a NSW police assistant commissioner, Michael Corboy, said on Tuesday. “It is just not good enough.

“NSW residents need to take some responsibility and realise that all it takes is one distraction and you could lose your life or kill a family travelling on the roads this holiday period.”

In Queensland, police revealed that two people killed in a Christmas Day car crash in Brisbane’s east were a 56-year-old Narangba woman and her daughter.

The older woman died overnight in Royal Brisbane and women’s hospital after the crash in the bayside suburb of Manly West on Monday. Her 18-year-old daughter, who was also a passenger in the car, died at the scene.

Police confirmed on Tuesday that the pair, along with the woman’s husband, 55, and their 23-year-old daughter, were travelling to a family Christmas function when their Mitsubishi Lancer collided head-on with a black BMW sedan.

The man and his older daughter were both expected to make a full recovery, as was the driver and sole occupant of the second car, a 46-year-old man from Capalaba.

Police said on Tuesday he had been charged with two counts of dangerous operation of a motor vehicle causing death and other charges.

“This fatality, like any fatality, is a real tragedy on our road networks,” Superintendent Dave Johnson told reporters. “It particularly hits home when it’s on Christmas Day.

“These members were travelling, safely, towards family and friends at Birkdale to celebrate their Christmas together.”

Police were also investigating after a woman was found dead on a road north-west of Brisbane on the New England Highway in Yarraman at 11.40pm on Christmas night.

It’s believed she was struck by a car. Police urged anyone on the stretch of highway between 11pm and 11.40pm on Monday to come forward.

In Melbourne on Christmas Eve, three people were killed in a fiery, high-speed crash after a speeding Audi lost control and crossed on to the wrong side of a road in Point Cook, hitting a Honda Jazz at 7.30pm.

The two people in the Audi and one woman in the Honda were killed. A 35-year-old Tarneit woman, who was driving the Honda, was badly injured. She was taken to the Alfred hospital in a stable condition.

The Audi burst into flames after it slammed into the other car and ploughed through a guard railing. A Victoria police assistant commissioner, Doug Fryer, said it was clear the Audi was travelling well above the 70km/h speed limit.

“The impact has been significant,” he said. “You’ve got a motor that’s been ripped out of the car, you’ve got the vehicle up on the barricade, and you’ve got a battery that’s a further 100 metres down the road.”