A Tasmanian Police officer has been released from hospital after a two-vehicle crash on the Midland Highway in the state's South on Friday night involving a new highway patrol vehicle that was launched two days earlier.
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Police said the male officer was travelling north towards Oatlands in one of the new Kia Stinger highway patrol cars, before slowing and activating their lights to make a U-turn after detecting a speeding vehicle heading southbound.
A grey Mazda sedan was involved in a crash with the police vehicle, which saw the officer flown by helicopter to Royal Hobart Hospital. The officer was discharged Saturday without serious injuries.
The crash came two days after police debuted the new highway patrol vehicle, which they said would add "to the wide range of high-visibility resources available for the new Road Policing Services unit".
The new vehicle was debuted by police last Wednesday as part of a broader push to address the state's rising road death-toll, which sits at 36 for this year.
Detective Inspector Rebecca Davis said on Saturday an investigation into the cause of the crash by crash investigation services was ongoing, but said both vehicles sustained serious damage and the conditions of the vehicles had nothing to do with the accident.
Police said investigations indicated as the highway patrol car slowed and activated its lights the sedan hit the rear right side of the police vehicle as it was making a U-turn. The three occupants in the sedan were not seriously injured.
Inspector Davis said the police vehicle involved in the crash was the only Kia Stinger highway patrol car in the South, and has now been taken off the road due to damage.
A spokesperson for Tasmania Police said the new vehicles were part of lease arrangements with their broader fleet of cars.
The nine new highway patrol cars are part of recent measures to tackle road-safety issues, which also includes 30 drones worth $860,000 that will be used to police dangerous driving in remote areas.
Tasmania's newly minted State Road Safety Coordinator Inspector Gary Williams said with 68 police officers solely dedicated to road policing across the state, it now had one of the nation's highest ratios of traffic police.
"We are throwing everything we can at making our roads safer, including these brand-new Highway Patrol vehicles, and we're using other resources like drones and our community evidence portal to help us track down traffic offenders," Inspector Williams said.
"With 36 deaths on our roads this year, now more than ever we need the community's support."
Police Minister Felix Ellis said the number of Tasmania Police employees had increased by 31 per cent since forming government.
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