Image: 7 News

A shaken truck driver who witnessed a fatal head-on collision says he narrowly escaped the accident himself.

A 72-year-old man has been killed after two vehicles collided on the M1 Pacific Motorway at Warnervale at about 4.30am.

The deceased driver was travelling northbound in a sedan, on the wrong side of the motorway, when he smashed into a ute.

The 26-year-old male ute driver miraculously escaped with minor injuries and is recovering in Gosford Hospital.

An interstate truck driver contacted Ray Hadley soon after the accident, saying he crossed paths with the vehicle moments before the accident.

He was travelling south, overtaking another truck, when he saw a pair of headlights coming straight for him.

“I flashed my lights at him, he flashed his lights at me,” the witness tells Ray.

“I was just lucky that there were no cars behind me in the left lane so I was able to get out of the way.

“I believe that the next car that was coming at him was the car that he hit.”

The truckie says flashing his high beams had no effect, revealing the driver didn’t reduce his speed and “just kept coming”.

Click PLAY below to hear the truck driver’s harrowing account