The French tourist involved in an accident at the Port Douglas Road/Captain Cook Highway intersection on Tuesday 19 July is on the road to recovery, a relative told The Newsport.

Writing from France, Gilles Gorka, an Uncle of the young student, said that her injuries were severe, but is now showing signs of improvement.

"Following the accident, she fell into a coma for several days," Mr Gorka said.

"She has now regained consciousness, her mum and dad are (at her) sides, we hope (she) will soon be repatriated to France."

Port Douglas Officer-in-Charge Sergeant Damian Meadows reiterated the importance of maintaining concentration while driving.

"At least 75% of the accidents that take place out on that highway are north bound traffic turning into Port Douglas in front of oncoming traffic...the sun is not an influencing factor," he said.

Sergeant Meadows said that there are more dangerous areas of the Captain Cook Highway than the notorious turn off to Port Douglas.

"The worst intersection on the Captain Cook Highway is the Yorkey's Knob roundabout. That one roundabout has about, I'd say conservatively, four times as many accidents as we do at the intersection of Port Douglas Road.

While many Port Douglas residents are calling for a roundabout to improve road safety, Sergeant Meadows said the design is crucial to meeting its purpose saying that some northern beaches roundabouts are too tight and water pools on the inside lane causing drivers to lose control of their vehicles.


Previously reported
Major accident at Capt Cook Highway junction
Wednesday 20 July 2011 

by Roy Weavers

Another major accident occurred on Tuesday evening at just before 6pm where a 20-year-old woman was seriously injured in a head on collision between two vans at the Port Douglas junction and two other people, French tourists, were trapped before being cut out of their vehicle by Emergency services.









 The French woman driver of one of the vans was airlifted to Cairns Base Hospital in a serious but stable condition. Paramedics and fire crews attended the scene.  The woman was thought to have a fractured femur and pelvis.  Her 22-year-old male passenger was taken to Mossman Hospital in a stable condition with a fractured hand.  The driver of the other van was a 33-year-old man who was uninjured.

This junction was the subject of much debate on The Newsport last year when several excellent suggestions from readers were passed onto the relevant authorities.  Speaking this morning to Councillor Julia Leu, who was first on the scene of last nights accident, she said that she had rung Jason O'Brien State MP for our region to urge him to make the often discussed roundabout at the junction a priority for serious consideration by the State government  to ensure the apparent confusion is removed from the junction which despite the recent upgrade still seems to be prevalent.

Mr O'Brien contacted The Newsport early this morning to announce that he is throwing his support behind calls for a roundabout to be built at the intersection of Captain Cook Highway and Port Douglas Road.

Mr O'Brien said that it was now obvious the intersection upgrade completed a few years ago had not greatly improved safety. He said it was now time to take the next step.

"There has been at least three serious crashes at this intersection this year", Mr O'Brien said. "This indicates that the improvements Main Roads undertook two years ago are not having the desired affect."

Mr O'Brien said that he passed through the intersection a few hours after the crash and was shocked at its severity.

"In the past I have said that if motorists obey the traffic laws the intersection should be safe, but I think that the position is now redundant," he said."

I will lobby the Main Roads Minister to build a roundabout.  I have explored the option of putting in a roundabout before and the cost estimate was close to $2 million, the major expense being to move electricity poles and install lighting.  This year the State Government will invest more than $3 million to improve the Captain Cook Highway between Palm Cove and Port Douglas."