Woman killed in four-vehicle accident on Pacific Highway

A WOMAN has died and a six-year-old girl was flown to hospital after a four-vehicle crash at a notorious black spot on the Pacific Highway yesterday.

A woman died in a four-vehicle accident at a notorious black spot. Picture: Seven News

A WOMAN has died and a six-year-old girl was flown to hospital after a four-vehicle school holiday crash at a notorious black spot on the Pacific Highway near Port Macquarie yesterday.

The woman who died, Kay Anderson, 80, of Balgownie, was a passenger in a car involved in the smash on one of the sections of highway that have still not been upgraded to dual carriageway almost 28 years after an “urgent” recommendation by the then-state coroner.

Local Port Macquarie residents were still reeling from a crash on the two-lane road at the same spot just two weeks ago involving four trucks when one driver was stuck in his cab for four hours.

A six-year-old girl was flown to hospital after the accident. Picture: Seven News

Roads and Maritime Services confirmed there had been 54 accidents in the five years to 2016 on that stretch of the M1 highway from north of the intersection with Hastings River Drive to Telegraph Point.

Police investigating the cause of yesterday’s 8.50am crash which involved the two cars, a ute and a B-double, said early indications were that a northbound car had hit a southbound car before colliding with the front of the truck.

A former NSW state coroner, Kevin Waller, recommendation the Pacific Highway between Hexham and the Queensland border be upgraded to dual carriageway after conducting the inquests into the carnage of the twin 1989 Kempsey and Grafton bus crashes in which 55 people died.

Mr Waller campaigned for the road to be upgraded until his death in 2014.

The crash involved two cars, a ute and a B-double. Picture: Seven News

Yesterday retired coroner Derrick Hand, who was Mr Waller’s deputy coroner in 1989, said the work on the highway was taking far too long.

“Kevin’s recommendations were that it should have been done a long time ago,” Mr Hand said.

Ms Anderson died at the scene and the six-year-old girl was flown to John Hunter Hospital with a fractured leg and possible pelvic injuries.

The two-lane road at Telegraph Point is due to be bypassed by a new divided highway by the end of the year as part of the 43km of upgrade between Port Macquarie and Coffs Harbour.

Work on the longest stretch, 129km from Glenugie to Ballina, is not expected to be completed until 2020.

A spokeswoman for the RMS said yesterday the state and federal governments were spending $3.3 billion upgrading the road between Port Macquarie and Coffs Harbour to a new four-lane divided highway.

“The remaining 43 kilometres of two-lane highway will be progressively replaced with a new four-lane divided highway across the next six months,” the spokeswoman said.

“Work is being carried out to ensure the new Pacific Highway is upgraded and opened as soon as possible to improve safety and reduce travel times for all road users.”