Cloverdale crash: Mother and daughter among four killed in fatal crash on Leach Highway

A mother and daughter were killed on Monday morning when the taxi they were passengers in was hit head-on by a car deliberately driven on the wrong side of Leach Highway.

Police confirmed the two women — aged 56 and 81 — died in the fiery crash near Perth Airport alongside the 58-year-old male taxi driver.

The driver of the other car, a Toyota RAV4 sedan also perished when it collided with the silver Toyota Camry taxi at about 3.40am and erupted in flames.

The RAV4 had been travelling north on Leach Highway, near the intersection with Abernethy Road.

“The driver was travelling on the incorrect side of Leach Highway,” Det-Sen. Sgt. Hugh Le Tessier from the major crash investigation section said.

“At this stage, we believe the driver of the RAV4 has made a conscious decision to drive on the incorrect side of Leach Highway, and investigations remain ongoing.”

Dash cam footage retrieved from the RAV4 showed that the driver had been speeding through the streets of Belmont and Cloverdale prior to the crash.

It also clearly showed the driver had deliberately driven up the off-ramp on to Leach Highway, and then drove in a northerly direction on the southbound lanes.

Det-Sen. Sgt. Hugh Le Tessier said it was unclear why the driver had made the decision to drive on the wrong side of the road.

“That’s probably something we’ll never know,” he said.

“I can only report on the facts as we know it. We know what happened. Our investigation is now focusing on why.”

He said it was a tragic start to the new year.

“It’s just a tragic event for the family, but not just that family who have lost a mother and a daughter . . . but also for the families of the others involved,” he said.

“There’s four families that have been severely impacted by this, and it’s extremely sad.”

The fatal incident closed Leach Highway westbound between Tonkin Highway and Orrong Road as major crash officers investigated the crash.