CONCERN OVER INTERSECTION AFTER HIGHWAY CRASH CLAIMS DAD
A TIGHT-knit Far North community is mourning the loss of an elderly father-ofthree, tragically killed in a horror head-on collision on the Bruce Highway.
The 90-year-old long-term Gordonvale resident died at the scene after his northbound Subaru Forester initially clipped a car ahead of him near the Maitland Rd intersection, rolled and travelled into the path of an oncoming prime mover.
It is understood the man and his family are well-known in the small town, with his wife and son still living there, while two other children live overseas.
Division 1 councillor Brett Moller said it had been a tough few weeks for the area, coming a month after another Gordonvale resident, Brett Quinn, died in a fatal electrocution involving a crane.
“You don’t like to see a tragedy at any time, particularly in a close-knit community like Gordonvale,” he said.
“Given the recent accident with the crane and now if this is another local family impacted, it just goes to show the importance of safety.”
The crash came three days into Road Safety Week, which is being marked throughout the state with various events.
New Cairns Road Policing Unit Senior Sergeant Jason Smith said this was the first fatal crash to occur in Queensland for the week. He said the Forensic Crash Unit was investigating and they were calling for any witnesses who had not yet spoken to police to come forward.
“They’re making investigations as to how this happened and I’ll be overviewing it as the officer in charge of the Road Policing Unit to identify what maybe we can do to prevent these sorts of accidents occurring in the future,” he said.
“This is a three-vehicle traffic accident, there are injured parties, but unfortunately one elderly man has lost his life.
“It’s very early days at the moment, so unfortunately I can’t comment too extensively on how it happened as investigations continue.
“What I ask is if someone has seen the accident, if they have video footage, dashcam footage, please contact Crime Stoppers or Police Link and let us know what you have. This will all assist us in putting it together.”
The highway was closed for almost five hours following the crash.
The truck driver and another motorist were assessed by paramedics at the scene but did not need hospitalisation.
The man was the 19th person to die on Far North roads this year, which is one higher than this time last year.
In the opening two days of Road Safety Week there were more than 120 people caught speeding around the Far North, eight people distracted driving, and 26 seatbelt offences.
A motorist was clocked at 156km/h at Mount Garnet on Monday, while another was caught with a blood-alcohol level of 0.152 per cent at Machans Beach.
A special road safety forum was held in Cairns on Tuesday.