Police were unable to prevent a fatal head-on collision after a man was spotted driving on the wrong side of the Princes Freeway on Friday morning.
Officers desperately tried to intercept a white Mazda sedan, which was seen travelling on the wrong side of the Princes Freeway at Duncans Road about 12.20am.
A stretch of the freeway was cleared and several patrol crews were sent out to try to catch up with the Mazda.
But they were unable to stop the sedan before it collided head-on with an oncoming car at Laverton.
The driver of the Mazda, believed to be a man in his 50s from Norlane, died at the scene.
The female driver of the other car, aged in her 50s, was trapped in her crushed vehicle for nearly an hour while fire crews worked to cut her free.
She was taken to The Alfred hospital with serious leg injuries, where she remains in a serious condition in intensive care.
A taxi crashed into the two cars after the initial collision. The taxi driver, in his 20s, was taken to Footscray Hospital with minor injuries.
The Princes Freeway was closed outbound between Kororoit Creek Road and Newlands Road until 7am.
Motorists faced heavy delays as a result of the road closure.
“Everything [was] being forced off at Koroit Creek Road – that’s four lanes of traffic trying to squeeze through a two-lane off-ramp,” a VicRoads spokesman said.
Inbound traffic was queued back to Sneydes Road at Werribee South for several hours.
Marissa Calligeros/The Age
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