What began as a better than usual start to the year on Hunter roads descended into tragedy this week, with three fatal crashes in four days across the region and immediate surrounds.
Hunter Highway Patrol Inspector Mick Buko told the Newcastle Herald the state's northern region had experienced a 22 per cent drop in the number of fatal and injury-causing road crashes between the start of 2022 and the end of April, compared with the same period last year.
He said it had been particularly pleasing that the region had no road deaths during the recent Easter and Anzac Day long-weekends.
But Inspector Buko said this week's three incidents - which involved drivers travelling on their local roads - showed how quickly things could take a tragic turn.
A 74-year-old man died on Sunday afternoon after a Toyota Landcruiser ploughed into the front room of a home on High Street at Largs, where he was sleeping. The 69-year-old driver was believed to have suffered a medical episode and was taken to hospital in a critical condition.
Then, on Monday afternoon, a man aged in his 70s died after the ute he was driving was involved in a head-on collision with a Pantech truck on the New England Highway just north of Muswellbrook.
Two days later, a man in his 60s died when the sedan he was driving collided with a truck on Stroud Road in the late afternoon.
"They're regional roads - they're locals on regional roads, they're people from our community that know the roads and are still having accidents on them," Inspector Buko said.
"I think that's really our problem."
