Calls for major upgrades after three men die on D’Aguilar Highway in a week

Three men have been killed on the same “deadly” highway in a week prompting calls for major upgrades. SEE THE FULL LIST OF EVERY FATAL CRASH

Three young men have died on the same stretch of notorious highway in a week prompting calls for major upgrades but a top forensic crash investigator says the highway is not to blame.

Mitch Harpley, Angus Barnes and Daniel Burns, all aged in their 20s were killed in two separate crashes on the D’Aguilar Highway in the past week.

Mr Harpley and Mr Barnes were in the same car travelling along the highway at about 3.45pm on March 21 at Bracalba – initial investigations indicate the car collided with two utes travelling in the opposite direction.

Mr Burns, 20, died when the car he was in crashed with a truck on D’Aguilar Highway at Stony Creek.

Just months earlier in August a woman died in a head on crash at Bracalba, on the same stretch of highway.

The highway is 164km long linking Caboolture with Kingaroy.

Statistics from Transport and Main Roads show that since 2001 more than 50 lives have been lost on the highway and that hundreds of people had been injured.

There were four fatal crashes on the highway last year and three so far this year.

Frustrated motorists took to social media following the recent crashes and called for the highway to be upgraded.

Friends of Daniel Burns are paying tribute to his kind nature after his tragic crash death yesterday. Picture: Mary Cavanagh

John Brown wrote: “Would be nice if the Government spent less on Olympics bids and more on our rubbish roads. That whole road is a death trap given the lack of overtaking lanes”.

Michael Winpenny said it was the “deadliest road on the northside”.

Ella Dolan said the increase in traffic due to population growth was not helping: “The same highway has fatalities numerous times of the year and is getting busier and busier. But no one is doing anything about it apart from building more and more houses out here to make the road even busier.”

Moreton Police Forensic Crash Unit officer-in-charge Sergeant Greg Price has seen his fair share of fatal crashes on this stretch of highway during his 15 years working in the region.

“We used to have a lot of crashes on the D’Aguilar between Caboolture and Woodford and then Woodford to Kilcoy,” Sgt Price said.

“It was a narrow road with no sealed shoulders and steep drop-offs and 100km everywhere.”

Sgt Price said major upgrades were done including reviewing the speed limits.

“The last four or five years the number of crashes have decreased out there.”

In 2015 a $16 million upgrade of stretches of the highway took place – this included adding in extra overtaking lanes.

The Federal Government announced in June 2020 it would spend another $19 million to the D’Aguilar Highway between Caboolture and Yarraman.

Sgt Price said more than 90 per cent of the crashes on the highway were a result of driver error.

Heading in to the Easter long weekend Sgt Price urged all drivers to plan their trip, be patient, know their limitations and to not drive tired.

“The biggest thing is that people need to be patient,” he said. “People need to have expectations of what the traffic will be like and plan to stagger their trips to avoid the peak times.”