Overnight we read of another horrendous smash, south of Childers on Queensland`s Bruce Highway, claiming another 5 lives.

This was ( according to eye-witnesses ) another case of a vehicle drifting across the road and colliding head-on with a B-Double Semi moving in the opposite direction.

It is imperative that immediate steps are taken to upgrade this No 1
Highway ( use of this terminology is somewhat farcical ), as this road is in disgraceful condition overall with changing cambers, many patched surfaces and of most importance, no division between traffic flow directions!

I found from my own experience, when driving on a similar type road with no division and I suddenly blew out a back tyre at 95 klm/hr, that the vehicle was virtually uncontrollable and I shot across the road and off the verge before managing to brake to a standstill,....thank God there was nothing coming the opposite way or I may have ended up as a national "statistic".

With these thoughts in mind, I have often wondered how many of these "swerving" head-on collisions may be attributable to a blown tyre or mechanical failure, besides or contrary to the often suggested nodding-off, or influence of liquor, drugs etc?

Invariably, when the vehicle is totalled, it is extremely difficult for the investigating officers to determine the EXACT cause of the accident and thus a "probable cause" is offered.

One sure-fire action CAN be taken to avoid this sort of a holocaust and that is to DIVIDE the highway intoto by making it a dual carriageway, with sufficient distance between to allow vehicle run-off
without the risk of collision from the opposite direction, ....if necessary the highway should be divided by a curved upright concrete median strip to achieve this.

Action now should be of top priority and undertaken immediately to help to prevent or minimize any further mass trauma on this our main highway to the north!

Our current Queensland road toll stands at 209 deaths, compared to 194 for the same period last year,........YOU or I could be next!

No doubt exist figures prove it the Bruce Highway must be upgraded soon.
My time on the NSW DMR/RTA was spent on its death strip.
So very many died needlessly and awfully.
Few who never had a highway as their factory floor,or who had to answer the early morning phone to attend another tragic event will ever know.
Pain trauma even break downs those from police rescue and road workers see.
I never witnessed one accident, saw plenty of smashes, some right in front of me.
But if we drive to the conditions we get there, a car drove on the wrong side of the road, a two lane two way road.
NSW is at war, trying to finish its now not so bad death strip.
We do not have the money, tough budget bad times right now.
Do we let private enterprise build a toll road they own?
It would get it done, if they want it.
Every one wants the best roads now, and I know they need them.
But if we drive to survive while waiting we may just live to see it.

What i found about QLD roads was the camber on the road can suddenly change and steer you into oncoming traffic.
The deteriorating roads and the speed limits were still at 100 kms
Probably 90% of the roads in QLD west of the divide are in bad shape, and some should be closed altogether.
Unguarded bridges are somewhat scary, along with no where to stop, even if you did have a flat tyre.

Yes the camber sometimes changes without warning. I have often thought that this is really dangerous and absolutely needs to be signed. You can reasonably expect the camber to change on a right-hand curve, but on a straight road where it happens, you just get no warning at all.

It is the simplest thing to do – to simply put up a sign wherever this happens in unexpected circumstances.

But noooo…. There seems to be something fundamental missing from the brains of those in charge of road construction, road safety and the policing thereof. It's called commmon sense!

Come on now fellers, you're getting a bit precious aren't you? I don't know about you other 2, but Belly & Ludwig you should have grown up with the same roads I did.

Those were the days when the bitumen extended a couple of hundred yards past the last houses of the town, then the next 40 miles was gravel if you were lucky, & clay/dirt if you weren't. Not only that we had cart front axles,that would shimmy you off the road, & no mobile phones to call for help.

Inter town trips were quite often an adventure. I remember one occasion in the 50s, in our 1930 Dodge, [cars were expensive for the ordinary people, & you still waited 2 years to get a new Holden, even if you could afford it], we had some fun between Bathurst & Young.

It was a very wet day, & the road was clay. We came over a rise at no more than 30 MPH, & 300 yards away, down a gentle slope were a mob of sheep being driven. The stock route was still the main road back then.

Fortunately the stock men got them off the road, as we were still doing about 10 MPH sideways, all 4 wheels locked, as we slid past them.

A few years later a mate took the front suspension, subframe & all, right out of his Vauxhall Velox, when in similar conditions near Armidale, he slid 300 yards into a 2Ft wide, 3Ft deep ditch dug right across the dirt main road. He reckoned the road works signs he crashed through did very little to slow him down.

So fellers, be thankful for these pretty good roads you've got to drive on, today. We didn't always have such good ones.

Perhaps if folks were driving at a suitable speed, looking where they're going, & stopping when they're sleepy, we'd have less accidents.

I guess we had one advantage back then. When you could not drive the roads at much over 30MPH, the accidents were at slower speeds.

Hasbeen I too grew up on those roads and still have not trouble adjusting to conditions.
Having driven trailers and rigid trucks cars, 4x4s I have to say seeing the needless death still hurts.
Often at holiday times folk try to do things they just should not.
Bruce is not west of the range, it is national route one, but 50 years behind.
I defie any one to say they have not seen bad drivers failing to adjust to rain snow or heavy traffic.