Young man dies after his car crashes into a tree in Adelaide

One state’s brutal road toll tally is ticking up day-by-day with no end in sight after a man died after crashing into a tree on a major city highway.

One state’s road death carnage shows no sign of ending with another fatality recorded on Thursday afternoon.

Emergency services raced to Anzac Highway, a major thoroughfare in Adelaide, just after 12.20pm after reports a car had crashed into a tree.

Paramedics took the driver and sole occupant of the vehicle, a 26-year-old Andrews Farm man, to the Royal Adelaide Hospital where he later died.

Anzac Highway was closed to westbound traffic and police diverted traffic via South Road, while Eastbound traffic was restricted to one lane.

The man’s death is the 103rd life lost on South Australia’s roads this year compared to 61 deaths in the same period from 2022.

The crash happened just after midday on Thursday. Picture: NCA NewsWire / Dean Martin

The latest fatality comes just one day after a 65-year-old Mawson Lakes man died on the side of Hanson Rd in Adelaide’s north in what police investigators believe was a horror truck rollover.

Grief and exhaustion is rising in South Australia following a relentless string of deaths, which has been pushed to the forefront of public consciousness following the shocking death of Charlie Stevens, the son of South Australian Police Commissioner Grant Stevens, in an alleged hit-and-run crash on Friday night.

South Australia is reeling from a concentrated string of road fatalities. Picture: NCA NewsWire / Dean Martin

In a letter released publicly on Tuesday morning, Mr Stevens wrote about “101”, his son Charlie, whose death marked the 101st on the state’s roads this year.

“101 arrived on the 28th of April 2005 and changed our lives forever,” he wrote.

“The last of five – he was different. Cheeky, intense and funny – a loveable ratbag from the moment he could talk. He was as frustrating as hell, but he was also the kid who would look after others, befriend the lonely and help those who were struggling.”

Mr Stevens concluded his letter by writing: “Son, brother, grandson, uncle, nephew, cousin, friends, workmate, teammate. So much more than just a number on a tragic tally.”

Originally published as Young man dies after his car crashes into a tree in Adelaide