Eight-hour highway standstill after fatal crash explained by police
Police investigating a horrific crash involving a sedan that was crumpled “like a Coke can” have explained why traffic was brought to a standstill for up to eight hours.
Cairns
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Traffic was bought to a standstill for up to eight hours on Sunday following a horrific crash involving a Holden sedan that was crumpled “like a Coke can”.
At 12.45pm a grey sedan and a Scania G450 prime mover collided on the Bruce Highway about 2km north of the Hinchinbrook Lookout.
The car was so badly damaged the body of the driver was unidentifiable and next of kin are yet to be notified.
Officially, according to Queensland Traffic, the road didn’t open in both directions until 9.58pm but cars did begin moving through the crash site about eight hours after the road closed.
Cowboys fan Callum Coleman was returning to Cairns on Sunday after the game just before the accident happened.
“We saw the car on the back of the tilt tray and it looked like a Coke can and the semi was in the wrong lane,” he said.
With little information about when the road might open Mr Coleman made the call to head back to Ingham and get a motel room for the night.
“We turned around and went to Ingham and then heard the traffic was moving and at about 6.45pm we got back in the queue but it still had not moved and it didn’t get going until about 8.15pm,” he said.
He eventually got home at 11pm after an eight hour delay and though frustrated he was quick to count his blessings.
“It might have been me,” he said.
“There were a few things that delayed us, we hung around for fan day and the missus forgot her glasses.
“We are lucky it was not us.”
He said when you have vehicles travelling at 100km/h in opposite directions separated by a painted line there will always be crashes.
“We are forgotten up here,” he said.
“In a perfect world it would be nice to have a decent road and two lanes completely separated.”
A Queensland Police Service spokeswoman said for the safety of motorists police close roads or divert traffic to allow for the removal of wrecked vehicles, deceased people, and debris on the road.
“These often occur on major roads and can cause significant traffic delays for other motorists,” she said.
“The Cairns Forensic Crash Unit also uses drones to capture evidence and analyse scenes, to help reduce the time a road needs to be closed.”
Hinchinbrook MP Nick Dametto said while he understood driver frustration while stuck in traffic for hours, gathering of evidence needed for a coronial inquiry had to be done properly.
“I sympathise, my mum was stuck in Cardwell and was ringing me, she was pretty interested in what was going on so she could get home,” he said.
“Road crews, police and ambulance crews were all working as quickly as possible to clear the road and save lives … no one sitting there trying to drag it out any longer than necessary.”
The man killed on Sunday was the fourth person to die on Far Northern roads this year in a 50 per cent reduction on last year’s total. Throughout the state as of May 19 there have been 100 people killed in 94 fatal crashes.
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