By: John Westbury. Photo courtesy Laurie Honan
Travelling around you have probably come across road works, and with them sets of portable traffic lights designed to cater for the easy flow of traffic. I've come across some of these all around Australia, and in some cases I have to say they have been very poorly placed. Just so you know what can happen, this recent event in Queensland should give fair warning to all, especially if you are towing a caravan.
As he rounded the bend the driver towing the van suddenly came across a set of portable traffic lights which suddenly went red. He slowed down quickly and before he knew it there was a very bad impact at the rear. This was on the Warrego Highway east of Warra (near Dalby) where road works were in progress for a distance of some 100km, and possibly still are. There were not any speed restriction signs in place which meant traffic was travelling at 100kmh.
The driver of the Ute in this photo was trapped for some time and it took rescue crews some time to free him. Luckily he only suffered shock and some minor cuts and bruising. Truck operators in the area have also been complaining for some time about the location of these portable lights, and as you would agree it's even much harder to stop a fully laden truck than the Ute in this photo. Many thanks to our regular WUD fan Laurie for the photo and advice.
