Posted on 12/27/2005 6:00:40 PM PST by Aussie Dasher
AN unborn baby killed in a three-vehicle accident in north Queensland has lifted the national Christmas period road toll to 24.
Queensland police added the unborn baby to the toll after a pregnant woman, 32, was killed in an accident on the Flinders Highway near Charters Towers around 3.30pm (AEST) yesterday. A ute travelling west and a sedan headed east collided, before the sedan careened into another car driven by the pregnant woman, a police spokeswoman said.
The pregnant woman's car was travelling behind the ute.
The woman, from Edmonton, south of Cairns, was taken to Townsville Hospital where she died.
The woman's passengers - a man, 35, and a six-year-old girl - were taken to Charters Towers Hospital with minor injuries.
The 30-year-old female driver of the sedan suffered a broken collar bone while her six-year-old male passenger received cuts and abrasions.
The elderly man and woman in the ute were not injured.
The accident brings Queensland's Christmas period road toll, which started on Friday, to nine.
There have been five deaths each in Victoria and NSW.
South Australia's road toll remained at three overnight and there have been two deaths in Western Australia.
There have been no deaths in the Northern Territory, ACT and Tasmania.
In this case, the law has accepted the unborn child as a human being with the same status as his or her mother.
What's a ute?
I imagine it's not the same thing that burns cars in France...
For "ute", read "pick-up truck".
Didn't the Scott Peterson case also set this precedent with charging him for two deaths? Or did I dream that?
Sport utility vehicle, called a SUV here.
Actually, it's like what Americans call a pick up truck.
What Americans call SUVs are generally referred to as 'Four Wheel Drives' in Australia.
Those American Indians really get around.
Not in Australia, it didn't.
Wow, the toll roads down-under are REALLY expensive.
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