Push for more funding for Bruce to protect police resources

A Crime Stoppers chair and former deputy mayor living near one of the worst stretches of Bruce Hwy says precious police time is being taken up at endless crash scenes as a top cop gives insight into the toll on smaller stations.

An aerial photo shows the devastating scene in which at least three people have died in a five vehicle crash on the Bruce Highway near Maryborough. MUST CREDIT pics by Michael O'connor

For grieving Central Qld communities, the time to get “fair dinkum” about fixing the broken Bruce was long before three more drivers were killed in days, the state’s number one road was blown to pieces and country cops were yet again taken off the beat.

But if not now, when?

It’s what former Rockhampton deputy mayor Rose Swadling wants to know as she accuses both the federal and state governments of inaction and leads the local call for urgent highway upgrades and more police.

The chairwoman of both Crime Stoppers and Neighbour Watch Rockhampton said crashes tied up “all the (police) resources”, leaving communities vulnerable.

The chairwoman of both Crime Stoppers and Neighbourhood Watch Rockhampton, Rose Swadling, says the government needs to put money into fixing the Bruce Highway.

Reflecting on the catastrophic crash involving six B-doubles at Gindoran which claimed the life of 29-year-old truck driver Dioneto Pereira de Souza, an explosive crash where a large B-double truck collided head-on with a ute, killing a 21-year-old man from Koongal and leaving a large crater in the highway at Bororen and a third where father-of-six Scott Cassidy died at Canoona, Ms Swadling said the Bruce Hwy was a “disgrace”.

She believed government decision makers had a “lot to answer for because of the squandering of money” which had not been directed where it was most needed.

“Money needs to be spent, it needs to be spent now,” she said.

“What we need to do is get fair dinkum, put the right money in and that’s state and federal, support the small regional shires and give us what we need.”

Dioneto Pereira de Souza has been identified as the 29-year-old truck driver killed in a catastrophic crash at Gindoran on the Bruce Hwy.

Capricornia Highway Patrol Officer in Charge Senior Sergeant Ewan Findlater, who oversees the southern end of a region which has recorded 40 road fatalities this year, said crashes had a significant impact on smaller police stations.

“There might only be one or two officers and if they are tied up at the scene of a crash (which) as we know can take several hours to investigate and clean up, obviously they are not available at their station or to attend other jobs,” he said.

“If we don’t have the staff to do these jobs we might have to resort to overtime.

“It depends on each individual incident and the severity and the time it is going to take to both investigate it and then to have it cleaned up and be able to open the section of road.

“But we have a process in place where we prioritise calls for service and if police are needed we will get police there.”

Senior Sergeant Ewan Findlater of the Queensland Police Service based in Rockhampton pictured on the Bruce Highway at Midgee.

Callouts to major emergencies required police to be sent not only from local stations but also neighbouring regions.

Senior Sergeant Findlater said the crash at Gindoran took a substantial number of vehicles and big distances because several crews were involved.

“It actually ended up being police from both the Capricornia Police District and the Bundaberg area as well (that attended) due to the location of it,” he said.

According to a report from the Department of Transport and Main Roads, 255 people have lost their lives in 232 fatal crashes on Queensland roads in the past 12 months.

A crater 5m near Bororen next to the Bruce Highway after a crash caused an explosion on Friday.

The report showed Central Queensland had the third highest number of fatalities in the last 12 months with 40 lives lost.

RACQ’s expert analysis of AusRAP crash data between 2018-2022 showed all sections of the Bruce Highway between Gympie and Cairns had far higher fatal and serious Injury crash rates compared to regional dual carriageway sections of the Hume and Pacific Highways in New South Wales and Victoria.

The three sections of the Bruce Highway with the highest fatal and serious injury crash rates were identified as Childers to Gin Gin, Sarina to Mackay and Mackay to Proserpine.