Fines issued for lose metal bar which injured highway driver

Police have fined a truck driver after metal abr's from his truck struck a woman, critically inurring her on the Warrego Highway

DEADLY: Darling Downs City Patrol Group Acting Inspector Matt Howard with one of the 50cm metal poles found near the incident scene where a Laidley Heights woman, 60, was impaled while driving west on the Warrego Highway near Oakey. Picture: Tara Miko

POLICE have served a man with three traffic offence notices following the protracted investigation into an unsecure metal bar which struck a woman near Oakey on February 25.

It will be alleged around 3.15pm, a 60-year-old Margaret Woolley was driving a rigid truck westbound on the Warrego Highway when a metal rod approximately 50 centimetres in length bounced off the road and smashed through her windscreen.

The rod struck the woman in the chest, forcing her to pull over and call for help.

The Laidley Heights woman was airlifted to Princess Alexandra Hospital in a critical condition.

She has since been released and is recovering from her injuries.

Police located a number of metal rods at the scene of the incident and more debris further east, indicating they may have fallen from another vehicle.

On June 19 a man attended the Toowoomba Station after police were able to locate the business of the truck depicted in the CCTV.

A 40-year-old Mount Cotton man was issued with three traffic infringement notices for, fail to ensure load on prescribed vehicle complies with requirements, fail to remove from road something which has fallen from drivers vehicle and is likely to injure, obstruct or damage and driver must give required particulars to a police officer.

Read more about the incident and Margaret Woolley's incredible recover here.

Originally published as Fines issued for lose metal bar which injured highway driver