TWO lucky escapes in separate single-vehicle rollovers - just one hour and 10 kilometres apart - outside Kilkivan yesterday underlines the 'fatal five' safety message, say Queensland Police.
Anne Le-Riche Peree, a Gympie woman believed to be in her mid-60s, was travelling from Tansey to Kilkivan when the caravan she was towing rolled over, taking her white Land Rover with it.
At the scene, Ms Le-Riche Peree’s friend Brett Phillips said she was travelling home from a tracking dog meet with her blind German Shepherd, Breeze, before being run off the road by an oncoming vehicle driving down the centre of the bitumen.
Ms Le-Riche Peree, Gympie, had been driving less than 15 minutes when her white Land Rover and caravan rolled four kilometres Tansey side of Kilkivan.
Gympie Senior Constable Llew O’Brien said police are still investigating as to whether the 11.20am accident was driver error or technical failure.
“Any time you walk away from an accident like that, you are doing well,” Senior Constable O’Brien said.
Less than an hour later, on the Wide Bay Highway, 40-year-old Cheryl Smith was walking away from her own rollover after she is believed to have fallen asleep at the wheel of her Hyundai sedan.
Crossing over to the wrong side of the straight stretch of road, the vehicle’s right hand wheels dropped into a ditch before the car flipped over nose-first, landing on its roof.
Falling asleep at the wheel after driving since 3am is believed to be the cause of 40-year-old Cheryl Smith's single-vehicle rollover on the Wide Bay Highway yesterday.
Out from Brisbane to increase highway enforcement during the Gympie Music Muster – which attracted an estimated 50,000 people – Senior Constable Daniel Owttrim was on his way to the first accident when receiving the call to attend to the second rollover.
“She’s okay, we believe she may have a broken collarbone,” Senior Constable Owttrim said.
“She’s been driving since 3am this morning, on her way back to Rockhampton.
“She reckons that she’s been getting out of the car every hour, even getting out at Kilkivan to stretch her legs.”
He said the accidents were reminders to avoid unnecessary risks that put lives in danger.
“Fatigue is one of the fatal five,” he said.
“That’s the message that we’re out promoting - speed, distraction, driving tired, seat belts and drink driving.
“It’s just lucky that nothing was coming the other way.
“It’s also lucky that no one was in the passenger seat because it’s a real mess over there.”
Both women were taken by ambulance to Gympie hospital.
Queensland Police are reinforcing the road safety message after seven road fatalies in eight weeks have been recorded in the Gympie patrol group alone.
