Fertiliser trailer tips on Quairading-York Road, flagging concerns about truck movements in Tier 3 areas

A fertiliser trailer tipping over and sending urea sprawling between Quairading and Dangin has sparked concerns about the volume of trucks travelling Wheatbelt roads in areas with no access to Tier 3 rail. The incident involved one of 24 MDH Transport trucks and happened about 11am on May 12. The vehicle was carting fertiliser along the Quairading-York Road to a client to Bruce Rock when the trailer dropped a wheel off the side of the road and rolled, spilling fertiliser on to the side of the road. A Main Roads spokesman said the road was closed for about six hours and reopened about 5pm. MDH Transport owner Matt Henderson said it was the first time his business had had an accident in his 11 years of owning the business. However, he said he had heard of several truck rollovers along that particular strip of the Quairading-York Road. “The driver was coming around the bend with a full load of fertiliser and the trailer dropped off the edge of the road and became unsteady,” Mr Henderson said. “It started to sway and unfortunately ended with the back trailer tipping over.” Both the fertiliser and the vehicle were fully insured and the driver was not injured. The farmer collected what fertiliser could be salvaged. Quairading farmer Greg Richards said it was the second accident on the same corner in three months after an empty truck driving back to Perth also tipped and rolled into a paddock. “There have been a lot of accident there over the years; we’ve had two rollovers in the past three months,” he said. “The message is not getting through... what happens if the next truck hits a school bus or a farmer? “It is terrible to think that a third of WA’s grain — from all of the bins in the Tier 3 area — has to be trucked out. “It just isn’t right, when you think about the huge concerns about road safety.”