Western Downs car crashes: Assistant police commissioner Mike Condon pleads with drivers after horror month on roads

‘We’re sick of going to fatals’: Police have ramped up patrols on highways as the region mourns the death of a woman and her child in a devastating collision this morning.

HORROR MONTH: Emergency services attended the scene of a fatal truck and car collision on the Gore Highway at Millmerran Downs, July 22 2021.

One of the region’s top police brass has pleaded with the community after what has been an unprecedented year of carnage on Darling Downs roads.

Queensland Police assistant commissioner for the southern region Mike Condon said in a press conference on Thursday that they’ve entered a “critical period of road safety”, with the loss of 25 lives this year in road traffic crashes.

“We really need to work hard here and ask the public to think about the roads, the conditions, their driving, and their speeds,” he said.

“We’re seeing a lot of bad accidents on the main highways, and today tragically, we have lost a young mum and a child to a head on collision with a heavy vehicle.”

Multiple emergency services rushed to the Gore Highway near Millmerran early this morning after a sedan crashed into a truck, with a toddler and an older boy suffering life threatening head injuries.

Assistant Commissioner Mike Condon, Toowoomba Police. Picture: Nev Madsen.

Their father, a man in his 30s, was extricated from the car and transported to Toowoomba Hospital, while the truck driver was taken to hospital with wrist injuries.

Mr Condon said the sad reality of these traffic crashes was that drivers had made “poor decisions” behind the wheel of their motor vehicles.

“We really need to work together to exercise good judgment on our roads,” he said.

The Western Downs lost a life on June 18, when mother of five Brooke Holder died in a horrific truck and car collision in Bowenville.

“When we look at motorcycles, this is truly a massive issue for us this year … the amount of people killed on motorcycles is the highest we’ve seen in a number of decades,” Mr Condon said.

The Dalby community is still in mourning following the loss of Terry John Harper in Kumbarilla Lane on July 14, after he was killed when he failed to negotiate a bend on his motorcycle.

Police have since ramped up patrols on the three major highways according to Mr Condon, and said motorists needed to be aware of trucks and their capabilities.

Terry Harper lost his life in a motorcycle crash in Kumbarilla on July 14. Picture: Sam Turner

He said these crashes have already taken a massive toll on emergency services.

“Our people are sick of going to fatalities,” he said.

“Ambulance and fireys are doing an outstanding job trying to save lives and extricate people.

“Then you’ve got emergency workers at hospitals who have to patch these people up.

“It has a massive cumulative toll, but there’s also the family members who have lost their loved ones.”