News Service from House Harris

NT: Man almost loses his head in outback crash

DARWIN, March 4 AAP - A man almost lost his head when a steel frame carried by a truck sliced the top off his car.

The man's car was pushed into the path of the oncoming truck near Ti Tree in the Northern Territory outback on Tuesday morning.

The 32-year-old driver told police he was travelling south in a Holden Commodore on the Stuart Highway when he slowed down for an approaching road train carrying a wide load.

But the car behind him failed to notice he'd reduced his speed.

"The driver of the Mazda sedan ... collided into the rear of the Holden sending it spinning into the path of the road train," police said in a statement.

A steel frame being carried by the road train sliced the top off the Holden, with the impact causing the driver's seat to collapse.

The 32-year-old was thrown into a horizontal position but remarkably suffered only minor injuries.

"It's incredibly hard to believe how lucky everyone involved in this crash was," Superintendent Bruce Porter said.

"Something as simple as not paying attention to the traffic ahead of you could have had disastrous results in this case.

"Motorists have to remember to expect the unexpected on territory roads and this is a case in point."

The 77-year-old male driver of the Mazda and his 69-year-old wife also suffered minor injuries in the crash.

The three people in the two cars were all taken to Alice Springs Hospital and later discharged.

Police said the elderly driver would be summonsed for driving without due care.