Transport sector calls for regional roads to become ‘national priority’ after rollover on ‘treacherous’ road

A truck rollover that killed hundreds of sheep on a “treacherous” stretch of country road in Western Australia’s south has prompted calls for the federal government to prioritise Australia’s regional road network. 

The road train carrying about 800 sheep north on the Kulin-Lake Grace Road flipped its rear trailer after the tyres hit a rut off the narrow road, about 330 kilometres south-east of Perth near Lake Grace on Thursday.

Police and locals responded to the accident, with sheep farmer Brad Watson estimating fewer than half of the sheep on the trailer survived.

Mr Watson said most of the animals died in the rollover, while he and other farmers were forced to euthanase dozens of injured animals at the scene. 

“There were about 420 [sheep] on the rear trailer and out of them 420 I reckon we’ve probably got about 150, at this stage, which will survive,” he said.

“The rest of them were either killed in the accident or euthanised at the scene.

“There was a lot … It wasn’t very pretty.”

Mr Watson said the driver of the truck was shaken, but unharmed following the incident. 

‘Treacherous’ road known to locals

The prime mover was driving on a section of the Kulin-Lake Grace Road that skirts the Salt Lake Lookout 15km north of the town.

Mr Watson said the bend was known as a poor section of road with locals repeatedly lobbying the government for it to be upgraded.

“That road there is treacherous, every year it comes up at roadways committee meetings quite often,” he said.

“Harvest trucks go across there and it’s only skinny bitumen, it really needs that extra 30 centimetres put on the edge of it all the way along just to make it a bit safer for everyone.

“They did spend some money there last year, but they didn’t do the bit that needed doing.”

Lake Grace Shire chief executive Alan George said the section of road was managed by Main Roads WA who had recently added extra width to the shoulders.

“The shoulders aren’t very wide around the salt lake so they drop off a bit … the widening they did in the first place probably wasn’t enough,” he said.

“We have a good relationship with Main Roads so we will talk to them about the state of that … obviously it needs a bit of work done.”

A Main Roads spokesperson said the location where the incident occurred was repaired and resealed in 2023.

They said the road continues to be inspected regularly, with routine maintenance carried out weekly, but were also seeking additional funds to complete some upgrades.  

“Planned work for this road includes road rehabilitation, widening and resealing and Main Roads is continuing to work to secure funds to enable the work to be undertaken,” they said. 

Call for Commonwealth to act 

The rollover comes more than a year after a south-west freight company called on the state government to invest in the region’s roads, labelling them a “disgrace”.

Western Roads Federation chief executive Cam Dumesny said the incident was a symptom of the declining road networks seen across the country.

“It’s a problem that’s right across the country, we are hearing the same things out of the Wimmera, and we’re hearing the same things up in western New South Wales.

“The backlog of our regional freight networks, our regional road maintenance is really becoming a serious national issue.

“That’s something that does need to be addressed … Ideally, it’s something that should be raised at the federal cabinet-level when they come over here in February and make it a national priority.”

Mr Dumesny said with people travelling and spending time in country towns, ensuring the nation’s arterial roads were safe was an issue that affected more than just the freight sector.

“It’s not just the trucks on the roads, we’ve got people with caravans now on those roads,” he said.

“Increasing the road width on those secondary roads is something we’d very much like to see.”