BASIC car safety equipment has been credited with saving the life of a 19-year-old Bathurst woman after a serious car accident on Friday morning.
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At 10.30am, emergency services were called to a single-vehicle accident on Limekilns Road, 200 metres past the Koonong Place intersection.
The red provisional licence holder was travelling in a Holden Jackaroo when it left the road and crashed heavily into a large pine tree.
The woman, who was the only occupant in the car, was left with head and chest injuries and suspected spinal injuries due to the accident.
Bathurst's Police Rescue removed the woman from the car before she was airlifted by paramedics to Orange hospital in a stable condition.
"We took spinal precautions and she has severe head injuries, chest fractures and a broken shoulder bone," Ambulance Service of NSW inspector Rhys Dive said.
Inspector Dive said the woman's life was saved by the fact she was wearing a seatbelt and that her vehicle was fitted with a drivers'-side airbag.
"Paramedics on scene reported her injuries would be far more serious if she wasn't wearing a seatbelt," he said.
The accident occurred in a 100kmph straight stretch of road in dry conditions.
Chifley Local Area Command duty officer Mark Wall said the Holden Jackaroo the woman was driving left the road twice before hitting a tree in a paddock.
"She left the road to the left hand side of the road before coming back on the road and broke through a couple of property fences before the vehicle collided heavily with a tree" he said.
"She was trapped for a short time before being released by police rescue.
Inspector Wall said the woman was conscious and assisted emergency services during rescue.
The cause of the accident is under investigation by Police and Inspector Wall has called for any witnesses to contact Bathurst Police Station on 6332 8699.