South-west on track to record worst road toll in 10 years as man dies after Codrington crash

As of Tuesday, August 15, south-west families were mourning the loss of 13 people killed in road crashes since January, which is three more than all of 2022.

There were 13 recorded road deaths across the region in 2021, 10 in 2020, 11 in 2019 and eight in 2018.

The Standard analysed Transport Accident Commission (TAC) data from the past decade which outlines the number of fatalities in western region police division two, encompassing the Warrnambool, Corangamite, Moyne, Southern Grampians and Glenelg local government areas.

The worst year was in 2014 when 17 people died.

If the region's road toll continues at it's current rate, the south-west will be on track to record the highest number of deaths in more than 10 years.

Police on Tuesday confirmed a 63-year-old Terang man had died in hospital following a single-car crash in Codrington on August 7.

It came just five days before police attended a single-car crash at Cobrico that saw four teenagers injured after their vehicle veered off Roycrofts Road about 1pm.

Terang police Senior Constable Ken Sayer said the occupants of the vehicle included an 18-year-old male driver and his three passengers - two boys aged 16 and 15, and a 16-year-old female.

All four teenagers were hospitalised.

The youngest passenger was flown to Royal Children's Hospital in a critical condition with head injuries.

A Royal Children's Hospital spokeswoman said on Tuesday the patient was now in a stable condition.

The three other teenagers were taken to South West Healthcare's Warrnambool Base Hospital with the 16-year-old boy later flown to The Alfred hospital.

Senior Constable Sayer said the driver was a red P-plater and it appeared he had an overloaded car.

Red P-platers can't have more than one passenger between 16 and 22, unless they are a partner or relative.

"When you go to a scene like that, it is quite confronting and you wonder when the message will get through," Senior Constable Sayer said.

"It is just so fortunate that we didn't lose any lives on that day."

Senior Constable Sayer said a lot of police officers were parents and it was difficult to see a child being flown to hospital with serious injuries.

"We have had a lot of P-platers and young people involved in serious collisions lately and I think at some point they need to heed the warnings," he said.

"You only have to look at what happened up in Hamilton (where two males and two females died in a single-car crash in May), we are lucky we still have these four kids with us."

Warrnambool highway patrol unit commander Sergeant Lisa McRae said too many drivers were still committing the "fatal five" offences which were to blame for most road deaths - speeding, seatbelt non-compliance, alcohol/drugs, fatigue and distraction.

"Some of the collisions our members have attended to have just been horrific and each one has a real flow-on effect for not just the families and friends of those involved but also our emergency services and wider community," she said.

Sergeant McRae said over the weekend there were six drivers detected on drugs.

"Impaired driving is a well-known contributor to serious injury collisions but we're still seeing people (driving) on drugs," she said.

"We need drivers to obey the road rules and drive to the conditions.

"We would love nothing more than to have no more deaths on our roads this year."

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