Police are investigating two serious motor vehicle accidents on Canberra roads in the early hours of this morning which left one man dead and another in hospital in a serious condition.
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In the first incident a motorcyclist died at Canberra Hospital after he crashed at a set of lights in Manuka, while a few hours later a driver had to be cut from the wreckage of his car after crashing into a tree on the Monaro Highway near Hume.
In the first crash, the territory’s fourth road fatality for 2014, the 25-year-old Canberra man lost control of his motorcycle just outside St Christopher’s Cathedral.
He was heading along Canberra Avenue towards State Circle when police believe he clipped the curb and struck a traffic light and then a tree about 1.05am.
He was riding a BMW F650 without registration plates and appeared to have been carrying a spare tyre and a backpack.
The visor from his helmet was on the road and appeared to have been dislodged in the impact with the traffic light pole.
The sound of the collision was loud enough to alert ACT Policing officers who were attending an unrelated matter several hundred metres away.
Sergeant Dick Dauth said it was too early to say the cause of the rider losing control.
“It’s early in the investigation and we can’t say with certainty what factors were involved. We’re looking at all aspects,’’ Sergeant Dauth said.
In the second incident the sole occupant of a Honda Jazz crashed into a tree heading south on the Monaro Highway near the Alexander Maconochie Centre about 3.40am.
It took intense efforts from ACT Fire and Rescue to rescue the 35-year-old man. Firefighters removed the roof and two doors and rolled back the dashboard to free him.
ACT Ambulance Service paramedics provided medical care during the process and took him to hospital with multiple injuries including to his legs.
Police at the scene said it was unclear what caused the car to run off the road.
