The Beechworth district couple had been motoring towards Wangaratta when tragedy hit about 11.15am on Tuesday at Everton Upper.

“For reasons that we’re yet to fully uncover he’s left the road and he’s collided with a couple of smaller trees before coming to rest against a very large tree,” Wodonga highway patrol police officer Senior Constable Owen Clarke said at the scene on the border of the Indigo and Wangaratta council areas.

“He was found by people who were driving along with him, they assisted him as best they could.

“The police and ambulance assisted as well when they got here, but unfortunately the male died at the scene.”

The husband in his 80s had been driving the blue Toyota Camry, while his wife, in her 70s, was stabilised before an ambulance took her to Baarmutha Park at Beechworth.

From there a medical helicopter flew her to the Royal Melbourne Hospital for assessment and treatment.

Senior Constable Clarke said the rugged terrain made it too difficult for the helicopter to land closer to the crash.

The sedan ran off the road near the start of a lengthy guard rail and parallelled that barrier for 20 to 30 metres before striking the tree, triggering the car’s airbags.

“Safety barriers can’t be everywhere unfortunately, they put them in what they think are going to be the most helpful locations to prevent cars running off,” Senior Constable Clarke said.

The policeman said the fatality would be felt keenly.

“It really is going to have an impact on the local community, because local communities, they’re small, they’re closeknit and there really isn’t anybody that somebody won’t miss,” Senior Constable Clarke said.

“Local people die on local roads we keep telling people this, it’s frustrating for us when it keeps happening we do our best

“We’d like everybody out there to just take that little bit of extra care, that little bit of extra attention, you never know what’s going to happen out on the roads.”

The Beechworth-Wangaratta Road was reopened to traffic at 4.30pm on Tuesday with traffic having been diverted via the Buckland Gap in the preceding hours.