A 50-year-old man was taken to hospital and the Ballimore Rural Fire Service (RFS) have called for upgrades to the Golden Highway after two separate crashes yesterday.
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The man was taken to Dubbo Base Hospital with serious injuries after an accident on the Newell Highway just south of Gilgandra.
The accident, a collision between a B-double truck and a utility vehicle, occurred about 1.15pm.
The truck was travelling south from Gilgandra towards Dubbo and the ute was heading in the opposite direction towards Gilgandra when the collision occurred.
Last night police were continuing their investigations into a cause for the crash and there were still a number of statements to be obtained.
The truck came to a stop across the highway blocking traffic in both directions.
The man, one of two occupants of the ute, sustained serious limb injuries and was last night in a serious but stable condition.
The other occupant of the ute, a 49 year-old woman, was taken to Gilgandra hospital as a precautionary measure. The driver of the truck was not injured.
Police, ambulance officers, the fire brigade and the SES attended the scene.
Traffic was diverted from Brocklehurst through Mendooran and from Gilgandra through Mendooran down the Castlereagh highway as the police, fire brigade and SES attended to the wreckage of the ute which was spread across both lanes of the highway.
Earlier in the day, in a separate accident, two trucks collided 25 km outside of Dubbo on the Golden Highway.
A UD truck crashed into the back of a Mitsubishi Canter turning right at the Barbigal Road turn off to Wongarbon about 11.40am yesterday. No one was injured.
The drivers were able to move their trucks off the road until the fire brigade and police arrived and the road was not blocked.
At the scene, Ballimore RFS deputy captain Col Buckler said the Golden Highway was not currently built for trucks and “most definitively” needed upgrading.
“This is the official B-double road to Newcastle (and) the roads need to be built to carry trucks,” Mr Buckler said.
“It’s time they spent money to make it safer because of the amount of trucks that use it.”