Appeal after road fatalities
Mark Tesoriero
05May08
ANZAC Day celebrations were rocked by three tragic deaths within 24 hours in a horror weekend on peninsula roads.
A 47-year-old male driver died instantly and four others were taken to hospital after a green Holden Commodore lost control and ploughed into head-on traffic on the Moorooduc Highway, Mornington, on Saturday, April 26, about 6.30pm.
And a 68-year-old Bittern woman and a 21-year-old man died when their vehicles collided on The Esplanade, Crib Point, the previous night about 7pm.
The deaths bring the number of fatalities on Mornington Peninsula roads to nine this year.
"It's just a tragedy," RoadSafe Frankston and Mornington Peninsula chairman Robin Tiffany said. "My heart goes out to the families of these people."
Sgt Shane Dawkins, of Mornington Police, said the Commodore in the Moorooduc Highway crash had veered across one lane of traffic and over the median strip before colliding with a late-model Mercedes and Honda south of Mornington-Tyabb Rd.
The Mercedes caught fire on impact, but the occupants a couple and their daughter escaped. The sole occupant of the Honda had to be extracted by SES volunteers. All four were taken to Frankston Hospital with non life-threatening injuries.
The highway was closed for three hours as police, Moorooduc CFA and the SES members cleared the scene.
Police are investigating whether speed and/or alcohol were involved. It's the second death in a fortnight on the Mornington stretch of the highway after a man in his 80s was killed on April 13 near the intersection with Craigie Rd.
Mr Tiffany urged drivers to avoid dangerous intersections and plan safer routes of travel. "We need to remember that one of the most dangerous things that we do in our everyday lives is driving," he said. "We can only control the car we are driving, but no one else's."
