Chilling reason behind fatal crash on Darnum, Princes Freeway, Victoria
Chilling rationale behind horror three-car crash that kills passenger, 30, and female driver, 32, fights for life – as police describe how roadside mowing is linked to deadly chain of events
- Three cars and a truck crashed in Darnum, Victoria, on Monday
- Police have revealed how roadside mowing is linked to collisions
Lawn mowing on the side of a highway has been linked to a three-car horror disaster that left a female passenger and female driver fighting for their lives.
A lorry and three cars crashed into the westbound lanes of the Princes Highway near Darnum, in Victoria’s West Gippsland region around 8:40am Monday.
A female passenger, 30, who was traveling in the front seat of a bronze jeep, died at the scene while the driver, 32, and a 14-year-old passenger were airlifted to hospital.
The driver is in critical condition, while the teenager was seriously injured. All three occupants of the Jeep are from Warragul.
Detective Sergeant Darryl Out said the roadside mowing had changed traffic conditions in the area and vehicles on the road were “either stationary or moving very slowly.”
Garbage, a shopping bag and pieces of metal were lying on the road during the collision
The force of the impact caused the Jeep to veer off the road and the Mitsubishi ended up in an embankment
“Unfortunately, for whatever reason, the truck driver hit the last vehicle in the line of cars,” he told reporters on Monday.
“When mowing that was in the right lane or out of the right lane, the vehicles were driving with road signs behind them to let everyone merge into the left lane and the traffic had a pile up.”
The 21-year-old female driver of a silver Mazda was taken to hospital with non-life-threatening injuries.
A 53-year-old man and a teenage boy in a third car, a white Mitsubishi, were checked at the scene by paramedics.
The truck driver, a 61-year-old man, is currently assisting police in their investigation.
Major Collision Investigation Unit detectives are investigating the cause of the crash and surrounding circumstances.
The deadly collision brings the death toll on Victorian roads to 132 so far this year.
The tragedy comes just two days after four people – a woman in her 30s and three teenagers – were killed when a red Toyota Corolla swerved off the Wannon-Nigretta Falls Road in Bochara, west of Melbourne, and hit a tree.
Police, firefighters and paramedics rushed to the scene of the multi-vehicle accident about 70 miles south-east of Melbourne during rush hour on Monday morning.
Emergency services were seen surrounding the white truck as they worked to clear the road
Last month, Deputy Commissioner of Roads and Police Glenn Weir said there has been a significant increase in multi-fatal accidents this year compared to 2022 on Victorian roads.
In an emotional plea, he urged drivers to obey traffic laws to stay safe after five people and a dog were killed after a ute was hit by a B-double truck near Strathmerton.
“Once all the tape is removed, all the cars are towed, and everything is cleaned up and everyone is back on their feet, it’s pretty easy for the crash to be something that happened last week, last month, or last year. years,” he said.
‘But we can’t stop there. It’s time people wake up.
“I don’t know what else we can do to try and get people to care.”
Anyone with any information regarding the Darnum crash is urged to contact Crime Stoppers.
Two of the cars came to rest in grassland, with the silver Mazda hitting a fence