NSW: National Holiday Road toll jumps to 19

AAP General News (Australia)
12-24-2008
NSW: National Holiday Road toll jumps to 19

SYDNEY, Dec 24 AAP - The national Christmas holiday road toll has jumped to 25 with
accidents on Wednesday morning in Victoria, Queensland and New South Wales.

In Victoria, a 63-year-old man died when his car collided head-on with a truck in
Heatherton, about 8.40am (AEDT.

That brought the state's toll to eight following a crash in Melbourne's CBD around
5.40am (AEDT) when a front-seat male passenger was ejected from a Hyundai sedan after
a collision with a taxi.

In Queensland a man riding a motorbike was killed in a collision with a bus in Brisbane's
northern suburb of Boondall just before 6am (AEST).

And in NSW, a woman was killed when a car, in which she was a passenger, ran off the
Pacific Highway and crashed into a signpost and trees near Port Macquarie just after 5am
(AEDT).

The accidents follow two deaths on Tuesday, including South Australia's first fatality
of the holiday period.

Police say a 26-year-old Perth man, in Adelaide on business, was hit by a car in the
city's north just after midnight (CDST).

He was then run over by a second vehicle as he lay on the road.

And in Victoria an 81-year-old man struck by a car in Moonee Ponds on Monday morning
died in The Austin Hospital on Tuesday.

Victoria tops the holiday road toll with eight deaths followed by NSW on seven.

Queensland's has had four, WA three, the Northern Territory two, and SA one. Tasmania
and the ACT remain fatality free.


STATE FATALITIES

Queensland - 4

NSW - 7

ACT - 0

Victoria - 8

Tasmania - 0

South Australia - 1

Northern Territory - 2

Western Australia - 3

TOTAL - 25





(EDS: National road toll figures are for the period 0001 December 19 to 2359 January
2. Some states and territories have different periods.)

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KEYWORD: TOLL NATIONAL

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