A man has been killed after driving his car on the wrong side of the Princes Freeway in Melbourne’s west for almost 12 kilometres before crashing head-on into another vehicle.

Police tried to clear the freeway and stop the driver, but could not prevent the car from colliding head-on into an oncoming vehicle.

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Acting Senior Sergeant Tony Jenkins said there were enough warning signs to let the driver know he was driving on the wrong side of the freeway.

“That’s the disappointing part, that somebody has chosen to do this,” he said.

“There was ample opportunity for them to remove themselves from the freeway but they’ve continued to drive on the wrong side of the freeway.

“There was a lot of traffic on the freeway. We’re fortunate there’s only a couple of vehicles involved here.”

The driver of the sedan, a man in his 50s from the Geelong suburb of Norlane, died at the scene.

The woman driving the second car was trapped for some time before being freed and was taken to hospital with serious injuries.

Police said a taxi also hit the two cars shortly after the initial accident.

The cab driver suffered minor injuries.

The freeway reopened about 7:15am.