A 15-YEAR-OLD girl has paid the ultimate price for driving unlicensed after her younger sister was killed on the Fraser Coast on Wednesday.

Ophelia Silcox, 14, died instantly when the Nissan Navara utility her sister Curtsie was driving smashed into a tree at Paterson, near Maryborough, about 12.20pm.

The teenagers, talented show jumpers from Munna Creek, near Tiaro, south of Maryborough, were only minutes from home when Curtsie failed to navigate a slight bend and rise in the gravel road.

The two-wheel-drive slid sideways into a tree, crushing the passenger side of the ute and killing Ophelia instantly.

Curtsie was taken to Gympie Hospital suffering from shock and minor injuries.

She was last night being comforted by her devastated family.

The girls' parents, Russell and Terri Silcox, own building business Annandale Homes and are well known within the Fraser Coast community.
It is understood that at the time of the crash Mrs Silcox was at work in Maryborough and Mr Silcox was working away.

Acting Inspector Troy Pukallus said the girls had been wearing seatbelts and that inexperience probably contributed to the crash.

"It's still under investigation but obviously the two main factors would be the inexperience of the driver and the road conditions," he said.
"They just went for a drive. Kids will do these things."

The occupants of a remote property on Paterson Rd heard the crash and phoned police.

"The actual scene was fairly confronting for emergency services, especially given the age of the occupants, and given that all of the emergency services respondents have teenage children," Insp Pukallus said.

"That it's an avoidable tragedy makes it even worse.

"The road toll is something we're very conscious of and we're trying to adopt every strategy we can to reduce it and get the message out there."
Insp Pukallus urged motorists to consider their driving behaviours.

"The north coast region has recorded about 20 more deaths than at the same time last year," he said.

"I've been to two terrible scenes in the space of a month."