Police Minister Liza Harvey has tried to deflect blame for the tragic deaths on the Kwinana Freeway on Saturday as authorities face questioning over why the hazy road wasn't closed.
The horrific crash occurred at 4.40am when a Nissan truck, a Toyota Hiace van and a Holden Commodore utility collided while a thick blanket of smoke from a bushfire covered the Kwinana Freeway between Thomas and Anketell Roads.
It's believed that a car stopped due to poor visibility and a semi-trailer smashed into the back of it.
A 62-year-old man from Bentley, who had just celebrated the birth of his first grandchild, and the 58-year-old driver of the semi trailer were killed in the crash.
More than two hours earlier, about 2am, a taxi driver had pulled to the side of the freeway and stopped driving because he couldn't see further than a couple of metres ahead, 6PR Radio reported.
Police Minister Liza Harvey could not tell 6PR which department had responsibility for closing the road.
"Police and the authorities are looking into that and looking into the information that they may have had and if they responded appropriately," she said.
After being questioned about why authorities failed to prevent the seemingly unnecessary accident, Ms Harvey seemed to indicate that drivers need to take greater responsibility.
"We can't be in every vehicle driving with people," she said.
But, with the hazardous smoke identified more than two hours before the possibly preventable fatal crash, Ms Harvey was asked why the road wasn't closed.
"Well, one of the things that we're looking at as part of that investigation is how we can be more effective in communications between each other as far as the agencies go and also trying to work out who knew what when," she said.
The Department of Main Roads claimed it was not alerted to the smoky haze, believed to be a combination of smoke from a bushfire and smog, by police for about two hours.
It's understood one of the men died at the scene while the other died later in hospital.
Ms Harvey said 44 people have so far this year lost their lives on WA's roads.
