A horrific bus crash that killed three women and injured 27 others could have been avoided if the motorway had received vital works, the region’s mayor has said.
A Greyhound bus and a 4×4 vehicle towing a caravan collided on the Bruce Highway at Gumlu in north Queensland at about 11am on Sunday.
The crash claimed the lives of a 56-year-old Townsville woman, Emma “Alli” Sailor, and two German women in their 20s and 30s.
The bus allegedly veered into the oncoming lane and collided with the caravan, which was being towed by an elderly couple, who were unharmed.
The bus, which had 33 passengers on board, was travelling between Brisbane and Townsville and left Rockhampton at 2am that morning.
Police will investigate whether fatigue played a role in the fatal crash.
Whitsundays Mayor Ry Collins said the crash site was “one of the worst stretches of road in the country” that “continues to receive a lack of investment in improvements”.
“I think it’s important to have audible centre lines and also to have that space in the middle on a road like that, where there’s only one lane in each direction,” he told the Courier Mail.
A Greyhound bus and a 4×4 vehicle towing a caravan collided on the Bruce Highway at Gumlu in North Queensland at around 11am on Sunday (bus pictured)
“From the looks of the impact, I imagine having a little more space between the vehicles would definitely have helped the situation.”
Mr Collins said the stretch of road where the accident occurred had no hard shoulder or passing lanes between Bowen and Ayr, a stretch of about 116 kilometres.
He said the road also became riddled with potholes after heavy rains.
Whitsundays Mayor Ry Collins is pictured
“I always see a lot of investment in the Bruce Highway, particularly in south-east Queensland, but for some reason this section… remains neglected. It’s something we need to improve otherwise there’s a chance we’ll have accidents like this in the future,” he said.
Australian Road Safety Foundation chief executive Russell White told the publication the crash site looked like a “maximum fatigue” zone.
He warned that there was little room for error on the single-lane highway and that it would be safer if the road was divided into two lanes.
“If a driver has lost concentration or has suffered a fatigue incident, they are millimetres away from something happening,” he said.
He said black spots, which are specific places on the road where accidents occur, should be included on a priority list to receive funding.
Queensland Premier Steven Miles said the government would continue to invest “billions and billions” in upgrading the Bruce Highway.
The crash claimed the lives of a 56-year-old Townsville woman, Emma ‘Alli’ Sailor, and two German women aged in their 20s and 30s (pictured, paramedics at the scene in Gumlu)
“The work of investing in Bruce will never be done,” he said.
‘We’ll spend billions and billions of dollars forever on Bruce because it’s what connects our major cities.’
The Bruce Highway stretches over 1,670km from Brisbane to Cairns and is an important transport corridor for freight, local communities and other motorists.
For years, the highway has been plagued by safety, congestion, flooding and funding problems and has claimed hundreds of lives.
Between 2020 and 2023, the Bruce Highway claimed the lives of 134 people. Between the beginning of this year and April, nine people have died.