Five dead after four separate crashes on Victoria's roads within 48 hours, including head-on collision in Clayton South
Five people have died following four separate crashes in Victoria within 48 hours, with police issuing an urgent plea to drivers amid the fatalities.
Two of the fatalities occurred on Monday morning after a head-on crash in Clayton South, Melbourne's south-east.
A male and a female driver - the sole occupants of the vehicles they were each driving - collided at the Westall Road and Rosebank Avenue intersection just before 6am.
Both drivers were declared dead at the scene but have not yet been formally identified.
Westall Road was shut in both directions between Heatherton and Centre roads following the crash, with multiple emergency services personnel at the scene.
About 12 hours earlier, a 49-year-old Dandenong North woman died following a two-car crash in Trafalgar, in the state's Gippsland region.
The woman was a passenger in a vehicle which collided with another car at the North Canal and Willow Grove roads intersection about 5.55pm on Sunday.
Police said the car in which the woman was travelling "rolled off the road and down an embankment as a result of the collision".
The vehicle was being driven by her 52-year-old husband, with their two children, a 19-year-old woman and a 15-year-old boy, also in the vehicle.
They were all rushed to hospital with serious injuries.
"It's just an absolute tragedy that we've got the loss of a life, a wife, a mother - on Mother's Day - is killed in a crash that just should never ever have occurred," Detective Sergeant Mark Amos said, the ABC reported.
There are reports one of the vehicles did not stop at a stop sign.
A 60-year-old Yarragon man who was driving the other car was left with minor injuries, while his 58-year-old female passenger, also from Yarragon, was rushed to hospital suffering serious injuries.
About 4pm on Sunday, a driver also died after a two-car collision at the intersection of Springbank and Bungaree-Creswick roads in Pootilla, near Ballarat.
The deceased driver has not yet been formally identified. The other driver was not injured in the crash.
The fourth fatal crash occurred between a motorcycle and a vehicle at the Mill and Taylors roads intersection in Moutajup, in the state's south-west, about 4.30pm on Saturday.
A 53-year-old man from Coleraine who was riding the motorcycle died at the scene, while his passenger was flown to hospital with life-threatening injuries.
A 20-year-old Lake Mundi man who was driving the vehicle was not injured.
Detectives interviewed that man but he was "released pending further enquiries".
Anyone with information about any of the crashes is urged to contact Crime Stoppers on 1800 333 000.
A male pedestrian was also rushed to hospital suffering critical injuries after being hit by a vehicle on on Geelong Street in West Footscray about 8.20am on Monday.
Police on Monday morning said Highway Patrol units, Public Order Response Team officers and general duties police will be "saturating freeways, highways and roads" amid National Road Safety Week.
The operation comes as provisional data for 2025 reveals speed was a factor in 31 road deaths.
"This highly visible presence is not only about detecting speedsters but also deterring others from making the same mistake," Road Policing Assistant Commissioner Glenn Weir said.
"Every year we see the devastating impacts of speeding.
"From those whose lives are lost to their family members, partners, friends, work colleagues and emergency services who attend the scene – it ends up being many thousands of lives impacted by speeding behaviours."

Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles

Sydney Morning Herald
2 hours ago
- Sydney Morning Herald
Shooting the messengers is alive and well in LA thanks to Trump
Just five months ago, in the weeks around his inauguration, Donald Trump pretty much left Los Angeles to burn. Now LA police are clearly targeting journalists in the belief they have permission to open fire as the US President reprehensibly fans the flames of violence. Since protests against federal immigration raids started last week in the heavily Latino city, the Los Angeles Press Club has documented more than 20 examples of crowd control weapons and tear gas being used on the media, including Nine correspondent Lauren Tomasi, who was hit in the leg by a rubber bullet. She and a cameraman were easily identified and were off to one side of the police when an officer turned, drew a bead and pulled the trigger. Subsequently, ABC correspondent Lauren Day and her crew were tear-gassed when police dispersed demonstrators, and an ABC camera operator was hit by a round while filming. Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said the attacks were unacceptable: 'We have already raised these issues with the US administration … and we think that the role of the media is particularly important.' With controversy mounting, the LAPD is reviewing the shooting of journalists by their officers. There is little reason to believe they will stop targeting the media. Books and films have long highlighted the force's corruption and cover-ups. In 1991, a video of four LAPD officers beating Rodney King made the force a byword for police brutality and led to riots, but little reform. Meanwhile, invigorated by poll support for his actions on immigration, Trump called protesters 'animals' and 'a foreign enemy'. He ordered 2000 California National Guard personnel and then 700 Marines into the streets of Los Angeles. With the downtown now under curfew, protests are starting to spread across other US cities. While immigration has sent Americans into the streets, police attacks on journalists covering the protests raise fresh concerns about press freedom. Loading LA Police actions also highlight how law enforcement is sheltering behind Trump's obsession with handicapping the media – defunding Voice of America, Radio Free Europe and Radio Free Asia, threatening major networks and virtually blackballing The Associated Press for defying his renaming of the Gulf of Mexico – that have not been servile flatterers. Free speech is protected by the First Amendment to the US Constitution. It permits the media to speak truth to power, but America under Trump has allowed journalism to be demeaned.

Sydney Morning Herald
4 hours ago
- Sydney Morning Herald
Fourth Australian media worker struck in LA riots; press groups say journalists ‘targeted'
A Channel Nine cameraman is the fourth Australian media worker harmed by law enforcement in Los Angeles, among dozens of journalists who have been injured at immigration protests, drawing widespread condemnation from press freedom groups. The unnamed cameraman was struck in the leg with a ricocheting rubber bullet while covering the protests on Tuesday, Los Angeles time, leaving bruises. The cameraman was not filming at the time and had been following instructions to find shelter from law enforcement, a Nine spokesman said. The spokesman said Nine, the owner of this masthead, is assessing the situation and is taking into account the growing number of similar incidents involving journalists in Los Angeles. On Tuesday (AEST) the ABC's North American correspondent Lauren Day described being hit with tear gas as police dispersed a crowd of protesters. 'You can see why they call it tear gas: it really burns your eyes, it burns your throat,' Day said during a report for ABC News. An ABC camera operator was also shot in the chest on Tuesday with a non-lethal bullet – while wearing protective Kevlar – describing the pain like 'being punched in the chest' the broadcaster reported. A coalition of press freedom organisations sent a letter to US Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem expressing concern that federal law enforcement officers had indiscriminately targeted journalists. It urged officers to show restraint.

The Age
4 hours ago
- The Age
Fourth Australian media worker struck in LA riots; press groups say journalists ‘targeted'
A Channel Nine cameraman is the fourth Australian media worker harmed by law enforcement in Los Angeles, among dozens of journalists who have been injured at immigration protests, drawing widespread condemnation from press freedom groups. The unnamed cameraman was struck in the leg with a ricocheting rubber bullet while covering the protests on Tuesday, Los Angeles time, leaving bruises. The cameraman was not filming at the time and had been following instructions to find shelter from law enforcement, a Nine spokesman said. The spokesman said Nine, the owner of this masthead, is assessing the situation and is taking into account the growing number of similar incidents involving journalists in Los Angeles. On Tuesday (AEST) the ABC's North American correspondent Lauren Day described being hit with tear gas as police dispersed a crowd of protesters. 'You can see why they call it tear gas: it really burns your eyes, it burns your throat,' Day said during a report for ABC News. An ABC camera operator was also shot in the chest on Tuesday with a non-lethal bullet – while wearing protective Kevlar – describing the pain like 'being punched in the chest' the broadcaster reported. A coalition of press freedom organisations sent a letter to US Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem expressing concern that federal law enforcement officers had indiscriminately targeted journalists. It urged officers to show restraint.