Published Thursday, 04 September, 2008 at 06:16 PM
Minister for Main Roads and Local Government
The Honourable Warren Pitt
Statement from Main Roads Minister Warren Pitt about today’s crash on the Bruce Highway at Kybong
An investigation of today's crash is being undertaken by police.
Main Roads will work with police in investigating the crash, while also carrying out an independent departmental investigation. It is standard Main Roads procedure to investigate all fatalities on the state-controlled road network.
Main Roads investigators will consider factors such as prevailing weather conditions, road design and visibility, while police will look at road factors along with broader issues including driver behaviour. If Main Roads’ investigations establish that any road factors were involved, it will act to address these.
During the last 10 years, there have been 16 reported crashes around the location of today's incident - all of which have been attributed to driver behaviour. During this time more than 40 million motorists are estimated to have driven this stretch of road.
This location includes sections of road surfaced with stone mastic asphalt (SMA) and also open graded ashphalt. Today's crash occurred on an SMA surface. Two independent reports into SMA, in 2005 and 2007, concluded it is an appropriate surface for Queensland roads and does not pose systemic safety issues.
Surfacing and road design were found not to be contributing factors to January's fatal crash on the Bruce Highway at Coles Creek, which occurred 3km south of today's accident.
Initial information relating to today's crash does not indicate that road surfacing and design were contributing factors, although this will need to be confirmed following more detailed inspections and inquiries.
Main Roads is currently planning for the long-term future of the Cooroy to Curra section of the Bruce Highway. The department recently completed a joint state and federal strategic planning study, which identified the corridor for the eventual upgrade.
The final report from the study is with the Federal Government for consideration. Main Roads has already started detailed planning and, in the next few months, will start preparatory design work to clarify the project's scope.
Media contact: Minister Pitt’s Office 3227 8819
Main Roads will work with police in investigating the crash, while also carrying out an independent departmental investigation. It is standard Main Roads procedure to investigate all fatalities on the state-controlled road network.
Main Roads investigators will consider factors such as prevailing weather conditions, road design and visibility, while police will look at road factors along with broader issues including driver behaviour. If Main Roads’ investigations establish that any road factors were involved, it will act to address these.
During the last 10 years, there have been 16 reported crashes around the location of today's incident - all of which have been attributed to driver behaviour. During this time more than 40 million motorists are estimated to have driven this stretch of road.
This location includes sections of road surfaced with stone mastic asphalt (SMA) and also open graded ashphalt. Today's crash occurred on an SMA surface. Two independent reports into SMA, in 2005 and 2007, concluded it is an appropriate surface for Queensland roads and does not pose systemic safety issues.
Surfacing and road design were found not to be contributing factors to January's fatal crash on the Bruce Highway at Coles Creek, which occurred 3km south of today's accident.
Initial information relating to today's crash does not indicate that road surfacing and design were contributing factors, although this will need to be confirmed following more detailed inspections and inquiries.
Main Roads is currently planning for the long-term future of the Cooroy to Curra section of the Bruce Highway. The department recently completed a joint state and federal strategic planning study, which identified the corridor for the eventual upgrade.
The final report from the study is with the Federal Government for consideration. Main Roads has already started detailed planning and, in the next few months, will start preparatory design work to clarify the project's scope.
Media contact: Minister Pitt’s Office 3227 8819