Opinion: Horrific sights and sounds bring home Bruce Highway crash trauma

The horrific sights, sounds and smells of a Bruce Highway crash scene bring home the reality of road trauma, writes Shayla Bulloch.

The images of fatal crashes don’t leave you when you depart the scene: sawdust spread on the ground, pieces of vehicle flung hundreds of metres from the mangled wreck, and a crisp white sheet draped over someone’s family member.

It’s one of many horrific scenes I’ve witnessed over the years as a journalist, and one of many that have happened on the road every Queenslander drives on: the Bruce Highway.

About 10 per cent of the state’s crash deaths happen on the deadly stretch, but the unseen details of those crashes are perhaps the most upsetting.

There’s the screeching sound of metal being dislodged from another vehicle as a car is towed away.

There are the cherished belongings of a child left in bushes after being ejected from the back seat, and the sight of paramedics taking a moment to sit and take a sip of water after trying so hard to save a life, and losing.

What paramedics and police are faced with at a fatal crash is unfathomable.

I remember a seasoned Townsville police officer once telling me about a fatal crash so horrific he had to walk hundreds of metres along the highway, picking up body parts as he went.

Transport and Main Roads data shows Townsville’s stretch of the Bruce Highway is the most lethal in Queensland, with 17 people killed in the past five years.

Having lived in the north for a few years, I’ve driven this exact stretch of road several times on the eight-hour trip to my hometown.

And every time I got in the car for that journey I’d hoped I didn’t encounter a reckless, or drunk, or distracted, or tired driver who could make me a statistic.

So next time you get on the Bruce, know your decisions on the road impact everyone.