Bruce Highway crash at Bentley Park between motorbike and pedestrian shuts southbound lane
A man has died following a motorbike and pedestrian crash south of Cairns, less than two weeks after a teenager was killed in the same location. Motorists are urged to avoid the area.
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An elderly Far North pedestrian has died while the rider of a motorbike involved in the crash fights for his life as police investigate the causes of a second fatal incident at a Bentley Park intersection in two weeks.
About 9.55am on Monday, emergency services responded to a motorbike and pedestrian incident at the intersection of Swallow Rd and Bruce Hwy, Bentley Park.
A 74-year-old White Rock man, the pedestrian, received immediate first aid, but tragically died at the scene.
The motorbike rider is a 56-year-old Gordonvale man, who is fighting for his life at Cairns Hospital with head, chest and abdominal injuries.
Far North district duty officer Senior Sergeant Duane Amos said the White Rock man was crossing the road from the service station side, towards the White Rock industrial site, but whether he or the motorbike had right of way was among “all of the factors” being investigated by the Forensic Crash Unit.
“It could be age with people involved, we look at the driver that’s involved, we look at the vehicle (the motorbike) and we also look at the conditions; they’re all factors we’ll look at,” Sergeant Amos said.
“As you can appreciate that’s a very large intersection with multiple lanes, and we’ll look at visibility factors for all of those moving at that time.”
Sergeant Amos said investigators would be awaiting the decision of doctors treating the motorbike rider to obtain a blood sample.
“We only have a specified time period with regards to that (retrieving a blood sample) under the Transport Operations Road Use Management Act, which allows us a specific period of time to apply for that blood.
“That goes before a doctor and the doctor that’s treating a person after a collision has the ability to refuse due to the level of injuries they may have sustained.”
He said preliminary investigations showed no links to the level crossing in front of Swallow Rd, where 18-year-old Daimon Pyne was a passenger in a ute that crashed into a freight train on November 25.
Mr Pyne later died in hospital.
It brings the Far North’s road toll for the year up to 28, after two women died in a single-vehicle crash on the Mulligan Hwy, near Lakeland on Sunday.
“It’s an important time of the year where we want to spend time with the family, and we don’t need people missing at this time of the year,” Sergeant Amos said.
“It’s going to be sad for a number of families and it’s also sad for the first responders.
“We’re urging anyone that has any dashcam footage to contact us via Crimestoppers.”
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Originally published as Bruce Highway crash at Bentley Park between motorbike and pedestrian shuts southbound lane
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