The crash marked the end of a horror week in which six people died in five days on Hunter roads.

It was one of the worst weeks on Hunter roads in recent memory, police said.

Yesterday’s crash occurred in wet weather and, with more rain forecast, police were anxious to warn motorists about the added danger of slippery roads.

Hunter highway patrol supervisor Senior Sergeant Tony Grace made an impassioned plea last night to motorists.

‘‘We implore people to slow down and drive to the conditions and the speed limit,’’ he said. 

‘‘Concentrate on what you’re doing in the car and don’t be distracted by things inside your car.’’

Emergency services were called to the scene of the triple fatality on the Golden Highway in the Upper Hunter about 2.15pm yesterday.

‘‘On arrival, paramedics found three people were deceased,’’ a NSW Ambulance spokeswoman said. 

Two men in their late 30s were trapped in a white Toyota Kluger, police said. They died, despite the efforts of emergency services.

Another man and woman, who were travelling in a white Ford utility, were trapped in their vehicle. 

The man died at the scene and the woman, in her 50s, was cut from the vehicle.

Suffering chest, abdominal and leg injuries, the Westpac rescue helicopter flew her to John Hunter Hospital in a critical condition.

An ambulance vehicle crashed and rolled over on the way to the incident but the two paramedics in the vehicle were OK, the ambulance spokeswoman said.

The ambulance officers rode in a police vehicle to the scene of the fatal crash.

‘‘Somehow it [the ambulance] came off the road, but they’re fine,’’ the ambulance spokeswoman said.

‘‘I don’t have too much detail how it happened but I understand the roads are wet.

‘‘They were still the first paramedics on scene.

‘‘They were in front of a police car that pulled over for them.’’

As previously reported, a 40-year-old woman died in a crash on The Esplanade at Warners Bay on Friday, a woman was killed in a collision with a truck at Whittingham on Thursday and Cessnock man Jake Hain died when his car struck a tree at Pokolbin on Wednesday.

A Transport Management Centre spokeswoman said the Golden Highway was closed in both directions for  the crash investigation.

The diversion meant motorists had to allow for an extra hour of travel.

‘Horror start’ for fatals

By DAMON CRONSHAW

FOUR people are injured every day and one is killed  every 12 days on Lower Hunter roads, government figures show.

More than 15,000 accidents occurred in the region in the five years from 2008 to 2012, an average of eight crashes a day, Centre for Road Safety statistics show.

In those accidents, 145 people were killed and 8931  were injured.

Lake Macquarie recorded the highest number of fatalities, with 44 people killed on the roads from 2008 to 2012.

Newcastle had the highest number of crashes (5980) and the most people hurt (3208) over that period.

NSW and the Hunter had record-low road tolls in 2013.

Hunter highway patrol supervisor Senior Sergeant Tony Grace said the six fatalities in the Hunter in the past week were ‘‘very frustrating’’.

‘‘We’ve just come off a really good year and we were having a good start to the year,’’ Senior Sergeant Grace said.

‘‘In the last week, the year has turned into a horror start.’’ He said the biggest causes of injury in crashes were speed, not wearing seatbelts and fatigue.

Police had been using intelligence-based highway patrol policing to prevent crashes.

‘‘We put our police cars where the statistics tell us the crashes happen,’’ Senior Sergeant Grace said.

A spokeswoman for NRMA Insurance said its research identified ‘‘poor merging skills, speeding, visibility, in-car distractions such as mobile phones and driver frustration levels’’ as key contributors to collisions.

She urged Hunter  drivers  to focus on their driving and other cars around them while on the road.

‘‘Losing focus while behind the wheel, even if it’s only for a split second, may cause a driver to have a collision,’’ the spokeswoman said.

Research had shown NSW drivers were ‘‘still ignoring safety warnings, with more than one in four admitting to using their mobile phone while driving’’.

‘‘Drivers need to be accountable for their behaviour at the wheel,’’ the spokeswoman said.

‘‘We urge drivers of all ages to gain as much on-road experience as possible and to focus on the road at all times to help reduce the number of collisions and injuries on the road.’’