Dashcam footage captures shocking Bruce Highway reality faced by truck drivers

Dashcam footage provided to the Courier-Mail has highlighted the shocking dangers faced by our truck drivers on the Bruce Highway. SEE THE VIDEO

• Highway threat to restless truckies

Startling footage has laid bare the deadly conditions faced by truck drivers on the Bruce Highway as the boss of one of Queensland’s largest freight companies reveals why he waits by the phone each night.

The deteriorated and underfunded highway has become a landmine for crashes, with truck drivers forced to navigate potholes, outdated bridges and narrow shoulders at the expense of their own safety.

Major concerns have been raised over lack of rest stop areas and overtaking lanes, with footage showing frustrated motorists dodging oncoming traffic to pass trucks on dual lanes.

Followmont Transport chief executive Mark Tobin said road conditions on the Bruce had become so rife, he challenged anyone to drive a truck along the highway and “see if they have their ribs left”.

Mr Tobin operates one of the largest Bruce Highway delivery services, with 100 Followmont B Double trucks sent to North Queensland and back each night.

“I can send anyone from Brisbane to Sydney and know they’re safe but from Brisbane to Cairns, road conditions are unpredictable,” he said.

“How my guys come home each time I have no idea.”

The former statement was raw for Mr Tobin, who lost one of his drivers on the Bruce Highway just four weeks ago.

Followmont driver Daniel Stuart lost his life driving past an intersection in Maryborough when a disqualified driver turned onto the highway, directly into the path of a semi trailer, causing a head-on collision between the two trucks.

The trucks exploded on impact, killing both drivers.

“To make a phone call to his family after 30 years in this industry is the hardest thing I’ve ever done,” Mr Tobin said.

“It’s not fair that a man who did all the right things doesn’t get to go home to his family. Dan just went to work.

“We put everything in those trucks to make people safe, and I still sit by the phone and wait for a call.”

Ryan Hocking is a truck driver for Mark Tobin Transport and travels the Bruce Highway most nights of the week. Eagle Farm Saturday 20th April 2024 Picture David Clark

Those who manage to stay alive on the road experience near misses regularly, with motorists frequently driving into oncoming traffic to pass trucks.

Dashcam footage provided to the Courier-Mail shows one incident of a hire van speeding on the opposite side of the road to overtake a truck barely missing two oncoming cars, forcing the truck driver to slam their brakes to allow the van to cut back into the correct lane.

Other videos show cars reversing or pulling out in front of trucks, and driving over double lines on tight corners, with trucks jerking to the left to avoid being clipped.

Between 2020 and 2023, 134 people lost their lives in 121 separate fatal crashes on the Bruce Highway, with stretches between Bald Hills and Caboolture, Ingham and Innisfail and Mackay and Proserpine found to be the most dangerous head-on hotspots.

Linehaul manager for OzWide Freight and experienced truck driver Brendon Edwards recalled a recent crash at a parking bay in Gin Gin when a caravan driver “drove straight into him”.

“He totalled his car and told me he didn’t see me,” he said.

He described the Marlborough stretch as an “absolute nightmare,” and said potholes became “next level” after rain events -some big enough to take wheels off cars causing further extensive delays.

“The way the road flicks your trucks around and throws you off the road is insane,” he said.

“If you look at the highway from Brisbane to Sydney and compare it to Brisbane to Cairns, we’re just so far behind.

A screengrab of a Bruce Highway near-miss caught on a truckie's dashcam. Picture: Supplied

A screengrab of a Bruce Highway near-miss caught on a truckie's dashcam. Picture: Supplied

“Last fortnight my mate who drives for another company was sideswiped north of Rockhampton and lost his legs and he’s an experienced driver, has been doing it for 35 years.”

Mr Edwards said drivers became so “cranky” after waiting at crash sites for hours, he instructs his drivers to remain on the side of the road for their own safety.

“It’s mayhem everyone’s trying to overtake,” he said.

Constant crashes also create extensive delays for freight companies, with limited to no available heavy vehicle detour routes.

Drivers forced to pull over behind a road incident end up waiting so long, others are sent out to crash sites for emergency shift changeovers.

Nolan’s Interstate Transport’s Anne Lipp said if the company doesn’t meet its scheduled delivery timeslot, loads of fresh produce could be rejected.

“Any delay and cost to the transportation of goods effectively increases the price of the product for the customer, increasing the cost of living for everyone,” she said.

Ms Lipp said sections of the Bruce Highway were so narrow, there was no room for cars to overtake wide load trucks safely, and narrow bridges had dangerously little clearance room between vehicles travelling in opposite directions.

She said truck companies would hugely benefit from getting the green light to use higher productivity freight vehicles, which have more capacity than B-doubles and would ultimately reduce the number of trucks on the road.

“A standard 26m B-double can carry up to 34 pallets, usually 32 with mass limit compliance, while a higher productivity freight Quad Quad B-double vehicle can carry 42 pallets,” she said.

“For every three Quad Quad B-double combinations you could take a standard 26m B-double off the road.”

Sunshine Coast Concreter Michael Jung uses the Bruce Highway regularly for work. Picture Lachie Millard

Sunshine Coast conreater Michael Jung said he travels on the Bruce Highway regularly for work and described it as “sh**house” despite several recent improvements.

“Yeah it was absolutely sh**house for ages, you could travel like 20kms down the road and it would take two hours or something,” Mr Jung said.

“I mean it’s good now that it’s got the three lanes but anytime you travel past Gympie you don’t go anywhere fast.”

Mr Jung also said that during job hours, he would try to avoid the Bruce Highway at all costs.

“If I’m travelling from Caloundra to Noosa Heads, yeah I’ll try and not get on the Highway, it’s just too hard sometimes,” he said.

Mr Tobin said all Bruce Highway issues could be fixed if the government came to the table.

“They need to get out and around to see how bad it is,” he said.

“We can fix this issue but it needs to be through structure, forward vision and putting money in the right place.”

Transport and Main Roads Minister Bart Mellish earlier this week conceded funding had been impacted by the federal infrastructure split decision which saw the state take on a 80:20 split instead of the previous 50:50.

Despite this, he said 57 per cent of the government’s $32 billion infrastructure investment would be spent in regional areas, with $18bn spent towards Rocky and Mackay ring road projects and the Gympie Bypass.

“This includes a record $5.03 billion investment toward maintenance, preservation and operations,” he said.