Darling Downs family shattered by devastating traffic crash

A Darling Downs family has been told two of its members – a 29-year-old woman and a 12-year-old girl – will not be coming home, while a man and second girl remain in critical condition in hospital.

A MAN is fighting for his life in a Brisbane hospital after he sustained critical head and chest injuries when the SUV he was driving and a truck collided.

Sadly, the crash claimed the lives of a 29-year-old woman and a 12-year-old girl and put a second teenage girl in hospital with life-threatening head and abdominal injuries.

Her condition has been described as critical but stable.

Some of the victims are from Texas.

The news comes as police plead with motorists to drive to the road conditions at the close of the school holidays.

A 29-year-old woman and 12-year-old girl have died in traffic crash west of Toowoomba. Picture: Michael Nolan.

Darling Downs Police Country Patrol Acting Inspector Kim Hill said the initial investigation suggested a truck travelling westbound on the Toowoomba-Cecil Plains Road and an SUV travelling south on Jondaryan-Mt Tyson Road had collided at Mount Irving on Thursday morning.

The force of the impact sent the SUV rolling through an adjacent paddock.

Insp Hill said the crash was heartbreaking for the families of those injured and killed, as well as for the emergency services who worked to save their lives.

“Queensland stands at 139 lives lost on our roads this year,” she said.

“That is 138 people who will not return to their families.”

“Please be patient, be responsible, follow the road rules and the road conditions, and if you are tired take a rest.”

The 39-year-old male truck driver was treated for minor injuries after he collided with an SUV on Toowoomba-Cecil Plains Road on Thursday.

The crash was the second in the Darling Downs involving a truck in the past two weeks to claim lives.

On June 28, 18-year-old Maryborough man Lachlan Lethbridge died when his ute and a B-double truck collided on the Gore Highway at Southbrook.

“Heavy vehicles take much longer than the average vehicle to stop if they have to pull up suddenly so it is really important when they are around other vehicles – whether cars, motorcycles or heavy vehicles – that you be patient and respectful,” Insp Hill said.