Crusade for highway safety audit

YESTERDAY Member for Mirani Ted Malone presented a petition to Queensland Parliament on behalf of Michelle Leeson, who lost four family members in a crash.

Michelle Leeson and Member for Mirani Ted Malone go over the 5000-signature petition calling for a safety audit of the Bruce Highway before it was tabled in Regional Parliament yesterday. Picture: Tony Martin

AFTER months of hard work, yesterday was the day Member for Mirani Ted Malone presented a petition to Queensland Parliament on behalf of Michelle Leeson, who lost four members of her family in a crash on the Bruce Highway.

Ms Leeson has dedicated her time since the crash, on Australia Day this year, to collecting signatures from community members in a bid to push the government into conducting a safety audit of the highway.

Mr Malone tabled the document, containing more than 5000 signatures collected by Ms Leeson over the past few months, and spoke in Parliament about highway safety issues during Matters of Public Interest yesterday.

“Michelle is the only surviving member of that family and it is a very sad issue for her; but Michelle has taken it on board to draw up this petition and she has had a huge amount of support,” Mr Malone said.

Ms Leeson said she hoped the Government would consider a safety audit after hearing from Mr Malone.

“Something like this happening to you personally really brings the dangers home.

"It is something that obviously needs to be done, it shouldn't take someone like me to have to lose their whole family for something to be done about it,” she said.

Mr Malone called for the audit to identify dangerous areas on the highway, look at vegetation and other obstacles at the sides of the road, make sure line markings and sign markings were correct and a generally look at other safety aspects, particularly between Rockhampton and Sarina.

“We are heartened that the Government is looking at more overtaking lanes on the road because that is a big issue, but an overview of the highway to look at the aspect of the safety, I believe, is overdue and Michelle's petition will draw that case together, I hope,” Mr Malone said.

Taking a step in the right direction, Main Roads Minister Craig Wallace yesterday announced funding for allocated patches of the Bruce Highway, including funds to upgrade the rest area at Waverly Creek, near St Lawrence.

“This project will see the construction of a heavy vehicle stopping area as well as upgrade the existing rest stop facility,” Mr Wallace told Parliament yesterday.

“The new heavy vehicle rest area is expected to cater for 14m vehicles and provide long-haul truck drivers with a safe space to pull over and have a rest.”

Originally published as Crusade for highway safety audit