Qld mum Kerrie Cayley sues Gladstone council over Tablelands Rd crash
A legal stoush has erupted in regional Queensland with a mum of three suing a council over injuries suffered in a shocking crash which she claims was caused by roadwork negligence.
Police & Courts
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An $800,000 legal stoush has erupted in regional Queensland with a mum of three suing a council for serious injuries she suffered allegedly as a result of their negligence on road works.
Bundaberg’s Kerrie Louise Cayley claims she suffered the injuries in the September 3, 2020 crash while driving her Mazda on Tableland Rd at Berajondo, about 6okm northwest of Bundaberg.
The 43-year-old is suing the Gladstone Regional Council in the Supreme Court over the crash, claiming they failed to take appropriate steps to ensure driver safety on the road.
She alleges her car left the road after striking “a substantial, thick layer of loose gravel” while rounding a right hand turn on the stretch.
The council in its defence rejects the claim, saying Ms Cayley was driving too fast for the corner.
“My kids are going without a mum”
Speaking Thursday, Ms Cayley recalled the moments the car lost control as the mother of three was driving back from dropping her daughters, Indiannah and Zahara, off with their father at Miriam Vale.
Ms Cayley was familiar with the corner, having travelled the road every “three-to-six weeks” since 2013.
She always took “a bit slower” and, on the day of the crash, was travelling about 10km/h under the road’s posted 100km/h speed limit.
As she rounded the bend the car lost grip and “slid straight off the off the road”.
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Ms Cayley said the last thing she remembers before impact was a clear vision of where the Mazda was about to end up.
“I knew the car was going towards a tree,” she said.
She recalled thinking at the time “my kids are going out without a mum”.
The interior of the car collapsed onto her legs at impact, she said.
She “must have blacked out” in the crash as her next memory was getting out of the wreckage and collapsing on the road.
Ms Cayley said she was helped by good Samaritans and able to call an ambulance.
The claim, lodged on her behalf by Shine Lawyers says she suffered “significant” injuries to her spine, left shoulder, jaw, chest, left wrist, and right knee, as well as internal injuries and bruising.
It left her with PTSD when driving and she was still “very jumpy”.
Ms Cayley was forced to rely on the help of family and friends as she recovered from her injuries.
It claims the council was responsible for maintaining and repairing the road and had been “negligent” by failing to provide adequate safety warnings at the corner.
The claim says roadworks had been carried out at the site “for about seven days” before the crash.
These works included putting a “substantial, thick layer of loose gravel” on the road.
The road had “no sign warning of the hazard” or a “reduce speed” sign at the location, it claims.
Ms Cayley is seeking $781,169.86 in damages, including more than $115,000 in past economic loss, $384,000 in future economic loss, and more than $166,000 in care and assistance.
“The driver failed to take reasonable care”
In its defence to the claim, lodged by King and Company solicitors, the council rejects the allegation it was negligent.
It argues the road is in fact state-controlled, and therefore its maintenance was the responsibility of the state and not the council.
The defence says bitumen was repaired and the road was resealed by roadworkers in part, with the work finished on September 2, 2020.
It claims the crash was caused by Ms Cayley “not taking reasonable care” while driving on the road, saying an advisory speed limit for the series bends the corner was part of was 80km/h.
This was 10km/h lower than the speed Ms Cayley claims to have taken the corner at, it says.
The council further claims there was no layer of loose gravel as alleged, the road had been inspected by the council upon completion of the roadworks, and temporary warning signs had been erected “in advance of the newly resealed area … which warned of the presence of loose stones (on the road)”.
A council spokesman declined to comment further on the matter as it was before the courts.
Ms Cayley said before having children she worked as a Woolworths manager.
She was trying to re-enter the workforce full-time when the crash happened.
It destroyed those plans, she said.
“The injuries … it’s not possible,” Ms Cayley said.
Since the crash she had spoken with a number of people saying “how bad the road is”.
She hoped her case would help prevent another accident in the future.
“It was an avoidable situation but I’m living with the repercussions,” Ms Cayley said.
“I don’t want someone else going through this.”
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