Memories of killer highway show better roads save lives

A section of the killer Bruce Highway once known as the nation’s most deadly is now one of the safest. How it was fixed:

The roadside memorial of Rachel Purdy and her boyfriend Cory Whitmore who along with their unborn baby died in a horror crash on the Bruce Highway at Kybong in 2008.

A section of the Bruce Highway once known as the nation’s most deadly is now one of the safest.

The stretch of road, north of Brisbane, connecting Black Mountain to Gympie was the scene of 51 road deaths from 2001 to the end of 2023.

The bulk of those deaths, 37, happened in the nine years between 2001 and 2010.

Also during that time, close to 300 people were hospitalised with injuries from more than 800 crashes.

In the past nine years there has been just seven fatalities, more than an 80 per cent reduction in the road toll.

The reason behind the massive turnaround has been the injection of billions of dollars to make the road safer.

The duplication and separation of the highway from two lanes to four has saved countless lives.

The roadside memorial of Rachel Purdy and her boyfriend Cory Whitmore who along with their unborn baby died in a horror crash.

Former senior journalist and editor of The Gympie Times Nev McHarg said the duplication had been a godsend for the region and anyone who travelled the once killer highway.

Mr McHarg spent many years reporting on the horrors of that stretch of highway, witnessing first-hand the devastating scenes, and said safer roads definitely save lives.

The scene of the fatal accident on the Bruce Highway at Kybong in 2008 where Rachel Purdy, her partner Cory Whitmore and their unborn baby died. A truck driver Mark Hamilton was also killed.

“At one stage I went to about 13 (fatalities) in about eight weeks,” Mr McHarg said.

“Everytime I drive the old highway it brings back the memories of the horror scenes.”

One tragic day Mr McHarg will never forget is September 4, 2008.

It was a wet day and reports started coming through to the newsroom about a truck crash at Kybong.

Mr McHarg said nothing could have prepared him for the chaos and carnage at the scene.

A Ford Falcon had been hit by a flat-bed truck which in turn had been collected by a semi-trailer.

The road was blocked in both directions with wreckage strewn across the highway. The Falcon and its occupant - Rachel Purdy, 31, her boyfriend Cory Whitmore, 29, and their unborn baby - were incinerated at the scene.

The driver of the truck, Mark Hamilton, 44, was also killed.

“Four people died that day,” Mr McHarg said.

Fatal accident on the Bruce Highway at Kybong near Coles Creek involving three trucks and a car. Photo: Brett Wortman / Sunshine Coast Daily

“At the time it was horrific for the victims and the families, but also the people of the Gympie region.

“People didn’t want to travel the highway because you were liable not to get where you were going.

“It was the most dangerous section of highway in Australia.

“As a newspaper we campaigned long and hard for a safer road.”

Former Gympie Times editor and senior journalist Nev McHarg. Photo Renee Pilcher / The Gympie Times

A year on from the crash, then federal roads minister Anthony Albanese and state roads minister Craig Wallace appeared onsite at Coles Creek, 10km south of Gympie, to announce the start of stage 2 of the duplication after funding had been finalised in May of that year.

Mr McHarg said one of the reasons the road had become a death trap was because of the volume of traffic using it.

At the time, 16,000 vehicles a day were using the highway, with the number increasing by 5 per cent a year.

“There were a number of factors but the road was designed for a certain number of vehicles and it was at its maximum capacity,” Mr McHarg said.

“Prior to that, if someone made a mistake you would just run off the road but with the increase in traffic, if you made a mistake on a 100km/h section of road it was near certain you would have a head-on collision.

“The impacts at 200km/h (100km/h in each direction) were devastating.”

Mr McHarg said while the duplication of the Bruce Highway to Gympie had been a lifesaver, governments and politicians needed to make separated highways a minimum standard.

“The death zone has been moved north and it’s because the roads aren’t adequate,” Mr McHarg said.

Crash investigators at the scene of a double fatality on the Bruce Highway near Tiaro.

“It’s bloody awful, and the section from Curra to Maryborough and on to Gin Gin need to be improved now.”

It’s a sentiment shared by federal Member for Wide Bay Llew O’Brien.

Wide Bay MP Llew O'Brien says an expected 2028 "or later" completion date for the $336m Tiaro Bypass does not cut it.

The former Gympie police officer knows too well the trauma caused on the Bruce Highway and is now seeing that play out north of Gympie.

He said since the start of 2023, 11 people had lost their lives on the Bruce Highway between Gympie and Maryborough.

“The Bruce Highway between Gympie and Maryborough urgently needs to be upgraded to four lanes, matching the high safety standards of the Cooroy to Curra Gympie bypass,” Mr O’Brien said.

“I vividly recall how dangerous the Bruce Highway used to be south of Gympie before it was upgraded to the safe road it is today.

“Transforming that section from the most dangerous stretch of the national highway to one of the safest was a significant achievement.

“The Cooroy to Curra Bruce Highway upgrade stands as a powerful testament: we don’t have to accept death and tragedy as a constant in our lives.”