A MAN was killed after the car he was driving and a truck collided at Bullaharre, five kilometres east of Cobden, yesterday.
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The smash happened just before 12.30pm at the intersection of the Cobden-Stonyford Road and Shenfields Lane.
Police said the 68-year-old driver, believed to be from Port Fairy, died at the scene.
His female passenger was treated for shock and taken to the Warrnambool Base Hospital as a precaution.
The driver of the Owen Truss truck was uninjured.
Leading Senior Constable Dean Owen, of Warrnambool police’s highway patrol, said the light gold-coloured Mercedes sedan driven by the victim was turning right on to the Cobden-Stonyford Road from Shenfields Lane when it was hit by the truck, which was heading towards Warrnambool.
Leading Senior Constable Owen said a cattle truck headed in the opposite direction had to take evasive action to avoid the crash.
A witness who was travelling behind the cattle truck said its driver and a young family in a car following the Owen Truss transporter were lucky to avoid injury.
“The driver of the cattle truck saw what was happening, hit the brakes and managed to manoeuvre himself into the lane where the car had come from,” the witness said.
“A family travelling behind the other truck did the same and they were lucky not to hit each other.
“It was fairly hectic.”
The witness, who didn’t want to be named, said he was the third on the scene and was flagged down by the driver of the cattle truck.
“The first guy I saw was the driver of the truck. I checked he was OK and then went to help the lady in the car,” he said.
“We got her out and then tried to help the man, but he had already died.
“It all happened so quickly.”
Roads around the area were closed as police investigated the exact cause of the accident.
The death took the state’s road toll to 82, five more than at the same time last year.