Gumlu tragedy: Why notorious stretch was an accident waiting to happen

If the Bruce Highway is Queensland’s worst major road, the site of a horror bus crash is one of the worst of the worst. But it didn’t need to happen.

• Analysis: A political plaything

Road safety advocates say barriers and wider median strips could help prevent incidents like Sunday’s deadly bus crash on a stretch of the Bruce Highway described as one of the worst sections of road in the country by the region’s mayor.

Three people were killed and dozens injured when a Greyhound bus allegedly drifted onto the wrong side of the highway, colliding with a caravan being towed by a four-wheel-drive.

The section of the road, north of Bowen, had a safety rating of just two to three stars, as revealed by The Courier-Mail in the Help Our Highway campaign in April.

It has painted median strips with little to no road shoulder.

Sunday’s bus crash that killed three people. Picture: Supplied

Whitsundays Mayor Ry Collins said the stretch of highway was “definitely a section that needs further investment”.

“The section which the accident occurred on is effectively a single lane each way with no shoulder, lack of overtaking lanes in that section between Bowen and Ayr,” he said.

“There are no shoulders there. There’s quite a number of potholes that tend to form up around the highway after good rain and we’ve had good rain in the last week.”

The Bruce Highway near Gumlu where a Greyhound bus and caravan collided

Mr Collins said wider median strips and audible centre lines were among the improvements needed for the entire stretch of highway.

“I think audible centre lines and also really having that space in between on a road like that, where you do only have a single lane in either way,” he said.

“From the look of the impact there having some more space between the vehicles would definitely have, I’d imagine, probably help the situation.”

Mr Collins said the community had been campaigning for further investment in the Bruce Highway for at least 10 years.

“We know it’s one of the worst sections of road in the country, and an area that continues to receive a lack of investment into upgrading,” he said.

“I always see significant investment come into the Bruce Highway, particularly in South East Queensland, but for whatever reason this section … continues to be forgotten. It’s something that we need to need to improve. Otherwise there is the chance of future accidents like this occurring.”

Australian Road Safety Foundation chief executive Russell White said the section of highway where the crash happened looked like a “prime fatigue” road.

An aerial view of the highway where the bus and caravan collided

“There’s no doubt, the more that you can separate vehicles and certainly try and help them from deviating too far offline … the better,” Mr White said.

“Clearly, there’s not much room for error, if something has taken place where a driver has either lost concentration or they’ve suffered a fatigue incident, then it’s millimetres away from something happening.”

Mr White said it would be safer if the road was divided to two lanes each way.

“It’s just a shame it’s taken a catastrophic event for that to be brought back on the radar,” he said.

“Those black spots, need to be put on a priority list to get addressed.”

Premier Steven Miles said it was too early to speculate on the cause of the crash but defended government spending on upgrading the highway.

“The job of investing in the Bruce will never be done … we’ll be spending billions and billions of dollars forever on the Bruce because it’s what connects our major cities.”

Opposition Leader David Crisafulli also declined to blame Sunday’s fatal crash on the condition of the highway, but said more cash was needed to improve it.

“We are suffering from a generation of underinvestment and there needs to be a proper plan that ensures that we work towards fixing that road,” he said.

Originally published as Gumlu tragedy: Why notorious stretch was an accident waiting to happen