A 15-year-old boy has died and four other people have been injured in a two-car crash in Tasmania’s north-west overnight.
Police believe the Devonport boy was driving a Holden Rodeo ute when it collided with a Mercedes-Benz on Railton Road at Latrobe shortly after 11:45pm on Thursday.
The boy died at the scene. Two 14-year-old boys from Devonport, who were passengers in the ute, were seriously injured.
One was flown to Launceston General Hospital by rescue helicopter, while the other was taken to the North West Regional Hospital by ambulance.
Both are in a serious but stable condition. Inspector Adam Spencer said both boys “will recover”.
“This is a tragedy. A 15-year-old boy has died and it was completely avoidable,” he said.
The driver of the Mercedes, a 61-year-old Aberdeen man and his passenger, a 60-year-old Aberdeen woman, suffered non-life-threatening injuries.
The man was treated at the scene, while the woman was taken to the North West Regional Hospital by ambulance.
Spencer said preliminary investigations indicated the ute crossed to the wrong side of the road and hit the Mercedes head-on.
Police say the boy who died was unlicensed and that none of the three boys in the ute was wearing a seatbelt.
“If they had have been wearing seatbelts, in all probability, in the view of our crash investigators, [he] may very well have survived, the young fellow that didn’t make it,” he said.
Spencer said he understood the ute belonged to a person associated with the boy who died and whether it was stolen was a line of inquiry.
Speed, alcohol and drugs are also being investigated.
Railton Road was closed between Frogmore Lane and River Road for about six hours while crash investigators gathered evidence. It has since reopened.
Spencer said the death took Tasmania’s road toll to 27, compared with 35 at the same time last year.
“Every time police and emergency services attend these types of incidents, they consume trauma,” he said.
“The families of the people and particularly the young man who’s passed, I can’t imagine their trauma.”
“It would be good as a community and as a state if we could commit to doing the right thing so that no one else dies.”
A report will be prepared for the coroner.
