CORRIDOR OF MISERY
Warning more will die after highway stretch claims female driver
THE completion of a major upgrade to a notorious stretch of the Bruce Highway can’t come quick enough after a female driver died in a peak-hour collison with a truck.
The Mt Sheridan woman, 45, became the sixth person to die on Far Northern roads in a fortnight just before 8am Tuesday.
Steven Peach, who has lived beside the deadly stretch between Edmonton and Gordonvale for more than 40 years, fears more lives will be lost before the multimillion-dollar upgrade as part of the southern access corridor is finished.
Far North police Acting Inspector James Coate said motorists were being far too complacent.
A WOMAN has died in a shocking head-on collision with a semi-trailer less than a day after police issued a stark warning to Far North motorists after a fortnight of road carnage.
The 45-year-old Mount Sheridan woman was declared dead at the scene after witnesses reported seeing her silver Toyota Camry drift into the path of an oncoming northbound truck on the Bruce Highway south of Edmonton.
The truck driver, a man in his 40s, did everything he could to avoid the crash by moving the semi-trailer to the road verge, collecting a large street sign, but the two vehicles collided head-on just before 8am.
The woman has become the sixth person to die on Far North roads in a fortnight.
Police announced a major road operation on Monday in a joint effort with Townsville police with the entire northern region suffering six fatalities in three days.
The Bruce Highway was flagged as a key focus.
Far North police Acting Inspector James Coate said motorists were being far too complacent.
“If this was a homicide and the fatality rate was a homicide rate, there would be public outcry,” he said.
The crash wreckage was strewn about 50m up the highway.
The truck ended up down an embankment with significant damage to the front cabin and right wheel and both vehicles had to be towed from the scene.
The truck driver was able to get out of his vehicle but was taken to Cairns Hospital for observation and treatment for shock.
Cairns Forensic Crash Unit Sergeant Scott Ezard said another motorist who was driving behind the woman’s car just prior to the crash told police it drifted slowly onto the wrong side of the road.
“The reason for this is unclear,” he said. “There are a couple of possible factors – distraction or perhaps fatigue.”
He praised the actions of the truck driver.
“He saw the vehicle coming,” Sgt Ezard said. “He put the truck on the road shoulder as far left as he possibly could.
“He himself ended up going into (the ditch) but he managed to keep his truck, which contained mainly electrical goods, upright.”
Sgt Ezard said the crash occurred during peak hour with many vehicles travelling in the area at the time.
Police have called on any crash witnesses who have not yet spoken to officers to come forward.