MELBOURNE: Two women were killed in a traffic accident while attempting to help an injured kangaroo on a Melbourne freeway on Sept 4, Australian news outlets reported.
They reportedly stopped on the Hume Freeway in Craigieburn, a Melbourne suburb, to help the animal when they were struck by a vehicle at about 7.30pm.
One of the women, a 30-year-old from Beveridge in the state of Victoria, died at the scene.
The other, a 30-year-old from Melbourne’s Thomastown suburb, was flown to hospital. She died shortly after.
Both have not been identified by the media.
Victoria Police’s assistant commissioner for road policing Glenn Weir was quoted by ABC News as saying that the women stopped to assist the kangaroo when they were hit by another vehicle.
He added that police believe the driver did not see the women’s car “until the last minute” and swerved to avoid it, hitting the women “at relatively high speed”.
He told ABC Radio Melbourne that while he understood why the women stopped, he would advise motorists not to help animals they may have hit on the road as it is “inherently dangerous” to do so.
The driver stayed at the scene to assist the police, ABC News reported. Investigations are ongoing.
ABC News quoted Victoria Police as saying that 203 people have died on the state’s roads so far in 2025, 11 more than at the same period in 2024.
Assistant Commissioner Weir also said that nine people have died on the roads in just four days – three pedestrians, three motorcyclists and three who were in vehicles. - The Straits Times/ANN
