Niell Graham recounts being first on scene at horror Bruce Highway truck crash

A Sunshine Coast truck driver, who has spent more than 20 years on the Bruce Highway, says he’ll never forget the day he was first on the scene after a four-truck pile up. This is his story.

Niell Graham was first on scene a four truck crash on the Bruce Highway at Gin Gin 15 years ago. Picture: Patrick Woods.

A Sunshine Coast truck driver, who has spent more than 20 years of his life on the Bruce Highway, says he’ll never forget the day he called 000 for another man after a four-truck pile up.

Niell Graham, 49, of Nambour, said he was on a job about 15 years ago on the Bruce Highway, near Gin Gin, when the carnage unfolded.

He said there were trucks ahead of him heading north when a large lump of steel fell off the back of one of the vehicles. The second truck ran over it and lost steering and control.

It then struck another truck heading south, with Mr Graham also driving a rig southbound.

“I was only 30 seconds behind it. It all happened very quickly,” he said.

“I saw all the lights and was coming around the corner trying to pull up quickly because there was another truck behind me.

Niell Graham. Picture: Patrick Woods.

“Then the fourth truck behind me hit the guard rail and when I got out we couldn’t find the driver.”

Mr Graham called 000 then located the injured, but alive, truck driver who had been thrown from his truck.

“He was pretty messed up but he was alive and carrying on,” he said.

“Wasn’t much we could do.

“He lived.”

The experienced truckie said there wasn’t an inch of the Bruce Highway he didn’t have memorised.

He believes Queensland’s main road needed to be double lanes the whole way through.

“There’s nothing wrong with that road, it’s just that it goes from singular to double lanes then back to single and drivers forget it’s not double,” he said.

Niell Graham lives on the Sunshine Coast. Picture: Patrick Woods.

“There’s stretches of Bruce Highway that are really good and some which are bad.

“The worst part is between Mackay and Proserpine. It’s windy, narrow, and has limited overtaking spots.”

Mr Graham said in his opinion it was the lack of places to overtake on the Bruce Highway which made it so deadly.

“Maryborough to Childers - it’s very nice, flat and smooth. Proserpine through to Townsville is also good.

“After Townsville it’s not so good. The shoulders and overtaking lanes disappear.

“Between Innisfail and Cairns can get very narrow too.

“The Bruce Highway should be a four-lane highway the whole way. That would solve a lot of problems.”