Seven crashes on Blacksoil, Dinmore roads
TRAFFIC on the Warrego Hwy was brought to a standstill on Saturday with seven crashes occurring in the space of a few hours.
Police reported that between 9am and 2pm a series of crashes involving traffic in both directions occurred between Blacksoil and Dinmore.
The most serious occurred about 9.45am when a westbound refrigerated semi-trailer ran off the highway after the Fernvale Rd exit. The driver lost control of his vehicle, which came off the highway at speed and crashed into the table drain.
The semi jackknifed into the table drain and the prime mover ended up badly damaged and disconnected from its trailers.
The driver was lucky to escape. Initial police reports said he was believed to have been killed, but police later said he was suffering from shock and complaining of shoulder injuries.
Ambulance, fire and rescue, traffic control and transport inspectors were called to the crash, which knocked a number of roadside trees on to the highway.
One lane of the highway was closed for much of the day with both westbound lanes closed in the early afternoon as tow trucks removed the refrigeration trailers.
The highway was cleared and both lanes opened by 2.15pm on Saturday afternoon.
In another crash a driver lost control and crashed into a guardrail, causing a lane to be closed and traffic to back up further along the highway.
Despite the number of crashes during the day no serious injuries were reported. The wet was blamed for many of the accidents.
Police believed some vehicles had aquaplaned after hitting pools of water on the road and their drivers had lost control.
