Police believe a car driver made an error, causing a collision with a truck at a notorious intersection, which claimed the lives of four people on the Hume Freeway near the Victoria-NSW border on Wednesday. The car and the B-double truck crashed into each other just before 10.30am on Wednesday near Chiltern, about 30 kilometres west of Wodonga.
Victoria Police Assistant Commissioner Glenn Weir said on Friday the victims were two married couples in their 70s, all from central NSW. They had stopped in Chiltern for a coffee break as they were driving to Melbourne to see family. The crash occurred as they continued their journey.
Weir said there was no suggestion the car’s driver was driving erratically before the collision. Investigators believe the truck was travelling northbound on the Hume Freeway when the car turned left from the intersection of Wenkes Road, where the crash occurred. The two couples died at the scene.
The 30-year-old truck driver received upper body injuries and was taken to Wodonga Hospital in a stable condition. In the past 10 years, there have been 10 collisions at the intersection where Wednesday’s fatality occurred. Police say some of those were caused by motorists entering the freeway without giving way to oncoming traffic.
Weir said investigators had reviewed dashcam footage from the truck and spoken to witnesses, and believed the collision was caused by the car driver’s error.
“You can imagine the shock the [truck driver] is in, to go into work … and be confronted with something beyond his control that’s resulted in him being involved in such a tragic incident,” he said.
Ron Finemore, the executive director of trucking company Ron Finemore Transport, said the driver had reported he was well rested at the time of the accident.
The trucking company had supplied police with dashcam recordings and other data from vehicle.
Weir noted there was no suspicion the 30-year-old man was affected by drugs or alcohol at the time of the crash.
Police issued an urgent safety warning for the month ahead, due to 28 road deaths in September last year – the highest number of fatalities recorded for the month in 16 years.
“Now is not the time to be complacent. The number of lives being lost on our roads this year should absolutely be cause for concern for everyone,” Weir said.
“It’s almost as if it’s all care, no responsibility – people get out and go crazy, but you can’t. We’ve seen in the last few years that uptick in September is really problematic.”
Weir said police were determined not to repeat last September’s tragic road toll trend.
Nineteen of the 28 people who died in that month were vulnerable road users, such as motorcyclists, cyclists and pedestrians. When it comes to motorcyclist road deaths, police believe excessive speed, unauthorised riding, a lack of protective gear, and car driver behaviour were key factors in fatal collisions.
Victoria has recorded 197 road fatalities in 2023, 40 more deaths than at the same time last year.
Weir said the number of road accidents that resulted in double fatalities each year had risen sharply in Victoria, from two double fatalities last year, to nine in 2023.
“Last year we had no quadruple fatalities, this year we’ve had three. And we’ve had a quintuple – five people killed,” he told 3AW Mornings presenter Neil Mitchell.
“Impatience is what we’re seeing, and you know, just a lack of care and attention. When you’re driving a car, you’ve got a responsibility to everyone, including yourself and all other road users.”