ID :
96960
Sun, 12/27/2009 - 18:30
Auther :
Shortlink :
http://m.oananews.org//node/96960
The shortlink copeid
Fatality-free day on the nation's roads
(AAP) - It was a fatality-free day on the nation's roads on Sunday, with the national holiday road toll sitting at 43.
The figure climbed earlier on confirmation a woman had died after being thrown from
a car when it lost control on a gravel road in Western Australia's Pilbara region on
Saturday afternoon.
She was one of four people travelling in a Ford sedan that crashed off Boat Beach
Road at Wickham about 2.30pm (WST) on Saturday.
Her death took that state's holiday road toll to seven.
"The car was being driven along a gravel road ... when the driver lost control, the
car slid sideways and rolled," a WA Police spokesman told AAP on Sunday.
"All four occupants were ejected from the car.
"A female ejected from the vehicle died on the way to hospital."
A male from the car is also understood to be in hospital, while the other two
occupants of the car suffered only minor injuries.
"Inquiries are continuing but it's possible that speed and alcohol are factors," the
spokesman said.
So far this holiday period 13 people have died on NSW roads, which Premier Kristina
Keneally said was "extraordinarily distressing".
"Each one of the 13 fatalities represents a family and represents friends who will
not be able to share this holiday with someone they love," she told journalists on
Sunday.
She reminded drivers to "slow down, take regular breaks, wear your seatbelts and
don't drink and drive".
In Victoria, 11 people have died on the roads so far these holidays and six in
Queensland, where police say people appear to be behaving better on the roads this
Christmas.
Fifteen days into the Christmas road safety campaign, police say the number of
motorists caught speeding has almost halved with 18,029 speeding offences compared
to 35,869 offences this time last year.
Six people have died on Queensland's roads so far during the holidays compared to 12
fatalities this time last year.
The holiday road toll for South Australia remains at two, with one in the Northern
Territory, three in Tasmania and none in the ACT.
The figure climbed earlier on confirmation a woman had died after being thrown from
a car when it lost control on a gravel road in Western Australia's Pilbara region on
Saturday afternoon.
She was one of four people travelling in a Ford sedan that crashed off Boat Beach
Road at Wickham about 2.30pm (WST) on Saturday.
Her death took that state's holiday road toll to seven.
"The car was being driven along a gravel road ... when the driver lost control, the
car slid sideways and rolled," a WA Police spokesman told AAP on Sunday.
"All four occupants were ejected from the car.
"A female ejected from the vehicle died on the way to hospital."
A male from the car is also understood to be in hospital, while the other two
occupants of the car suffered only minor injuries.
"Inquiries are continuing but it's possible that speed and alcohol are factors," the
spokesman said.
So far this holiday period 13 people have died on NSW roads, which Premier Kristina
Keneally said was "extraordinarily distressing".
"Each one of the 13 fatalities represents a family and represents friends who will
not be able to share this holiday with someone they love," she told journalists on
Sunday.
She reminded drivers to "slow down, take regular breaks, wear your seatbelts and
don't drink and drive".
In Victoria, 11 people have died on the roads so far these holidays and six in
Queensland, where police say people appear to be behaving better on the roads this
Christmas.
Fifteen days into the Christmas road safety campaign, police say the number of
motorists caught speeding has almost halved with 18,029 speeding offences compared
to 35,869 offences this time last year.
Six people have died on Queensland's roads so far during the holidays compared to 12
fatalities this time last year.
The holiday road toll for South Australia remains at two, with one in the Northern
Territory, three in Tasmania and none in the ACT.
