A NORTH East police chief has pleaded with young drivers to stop after the death of a second teenager in a police pursuit in a fortnight.
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On Saturday night, a Berrigan man, 19, died soon after police terminated a short chase on Racecourse Road at Cobram just before 10pm.
It was one of two fatal crashes in the region in 24 hours.
Last night a man was killed when the vehicle in which he was a passenger left the Riverina Highway and slammed into a tree near Savernake.
Earlier yesterday eastern region Superintendent Peter De Santo said police had attempted to stop the Berrigan man’s car but after the driver accelerated his vehicle to a high speed, they ended the chase and stopped their police car.
“Unfortunately about 1.7 to 1.9?kilometres from the termination point of the pursuit, the man’s vehicle which was attempted to be intercepted, was found crashed into a tree,” Supt De Santo said.
The driver, and only occupant of the car, died at the scene, he said.
“High speeds, country roads ... you deviate a metre off the road and there’s these big things called gum trees and they will stop you dead in your tracks every time,” he said.
The Cobram fatality comes two weeks after a 180km/h cross-border police chase on December 4 which resulted in a single vehicle, high-speed crash that killed Kyralee Clark, 17, of Albury, when the car in which she was a passenger hit a culvert and rolled several times on the Murray Valley Highway at Killara.
Supt De Santo said in the Cobram incident, when police had attempted to stop the driver, he had pulled onto the wrong side of the road and reached a speed of 120km/h in an 80km/h zone.
Supt De Santo said there was nothing to indicate the car was stolen and police were investigating the circumstances around the driver being in Cobram at the time of the pursuit and crash.
“From what I understand it was a random check,” Supt De Santo said.
“There is no allegation of any offences involved at this time.
“The policy is that when there is an unacceptable risk to members of the public and of those members in pursuit or the occupants of the vehicle, the pursuit is terminated.”
Supt De Santo said it was his belief the police officers exercised their discretion and terminated the pursuit at the right point of time.
In a news conference yesterday, he made reference to the Wodonga chase and fatality earlier this month.
“It is a concern as to why young people don’t want to pull over,” he said.
“It’s unfortunate to say that in the North East, young people are now over-represented in our road toll, both in fatalities and in injuries.
“Quite often perhaps they don’t understand and they should understand that police can intercept them at any time that they’re behind the wheel.
“We’ve got a concerted effort in the North East that we do intercept people and we do check them and we do random breath tests on the spot.”
Supt De Santo said the only option for police was to reiterate their message to young people to take care on the roads and to continue to warn them about the consequences of high-speed crashes.
“We’ve come out of last year with some very good figures in relation to road fatalities and I think we’ve become complacent and it’s a timely reminder that we have to refocus on what’s going on,” he said.
Meanwhile police were last night working to determine why a sedan carrying two people veered off the Riverina Highway and hit a tree 10 kilometres east of Savernake.
The dead woman was a passenger in the vehicle.
The driver was taken to Albury Base Hospital with a leg injury.
The crash occurred about 5.30pm.
