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The notorious Dome Valley has claimed another two lives, but police say it will be some time before the cause of yesterday's double fatality is known.
Thomas Hayden Rudolph, 21, and Aaron David Rae, 35, were killed when their cars collided at 5.45am, 5km north of Warkworth.
Mr Rae had been heading south from Wellsford in a ute. He was believed to have been heading to work. Mr Rudolph was heading north in a saloon car.
State Highway 1 was closed for almost three hours and traffic diversions were put in place while police investigated.
Constable Colin Nuttall of the serious crash unit said the accident happened at one end of a straight section of road, but between two bends.
While the road condition did not seem to be a factor in the crash, it would be sometime before police knew what happened and whether a mechanical fault or driver error was to blame, he said.
Twelve people died in the Dome Valley area between 2001 and 2005.
At least another five died last year, including an elderly couple whose car collided with a ute in June.
A 2004 study ranked the Warkworth-to-Wellsford stretch of road as the fifth most dangerous in the country.
