Police urge drivers to be careful

Coroner’s representatives attempt to make sense of the accident scene where a couple lost their lives yesterday.

Doug Eaton

DISTRESSED police were shaking their heads as they surveyed the carnage at the double-fatality crash on the Pacific Highway at Tabbimoble yesterday.

The seriousness with which police were treating the crime scene was evident with the attendance of area commander Superintendent Bruce Lyons, Inspector in charge of traffic Inspector Gary Cowan, and Northern Region traffic co-ordinator Senior Sergeant Bill Darnell.

Snr Sgt Darnell said it was the first fatality in the Richmond Local Area Command this year but the fifth death on the Pacific Highway in the jurisdiction between Port Macquarie and the border.

Currently overseeing Operation Cross, a campaign to reduce road fatalities in the Northern Region, Snr Sgt Darnell was frustrated that drivers were not getting the message.

“This doesn’t go well with what we are trying to do,” he said.

“Drivers must learn to drive to conditions. 100km/h does not mean 100km/h in the wet.”

Snr Sgt Darnell said police were desperate to cut the road toll and were shifting to strategies to slow traffic down. He said it was not just about speed-traps and catching the most speeding drivers anymore.

“We’re concentrating on these black spots,” he said.

“Sometimes we even station highway patrol vehicles with flashing lights and officers just doing registration checks to raise our profile and slow drivers down.

“We are very focused on this part of the Pacific Highway that we’re standing on now because people keep dying.”

Supt Lyons took the chance to plead with drivers to take care in the upcoming Easter holidays.

“People need to understand that they’ve got to drive to conditions. They need to plan their trip. Today’s tragedy is an example of what can happen if they don’t.”