A MOTORIST waiting for mechanical help was shunted 80m down the Hume Freeway near Wangaratta yesterday when an out-of-control vehicle struck his parked car.

Sgt Graeme Threlfall said the Jindera man, 20, was sitting on the bonnet of his car, parked in the emergency lane, when his car was struck and pushed into a ditch.

He said the driver of the other vehicle, a Penrith man, 19, is believed to have fallen asleep.

The crash happened about 5km north of Wangaratta about|7am.

“The driver of the other car is believed to have had a micro sleep and careered off the road and collected the car,” Sgt Threlfall said.

“It knocked it 80m down the road and into a ditch.”

Sgt Threlfall said the Jindera man sustained serious back injuries and was taken to Wangaratta hospital.

He said the Penrith man told police “I must have drifted off”.

Sgt Threlfall said the accident happened so quickly the male passenger in the car, also 19, from Penrith, had no time to warn the driver he had veered off the road.

He said the pair had stopped in Albury to break their drive prior to the crash.

Sgt Threlfall said on long trips drivers had to “have their wits about them”.

He said drivers should take a break at least every two hours and on longer trips could stop every hour.

Sgt Threlfall said charges had not been laid and investigations into the crash were continuing.