Prang highlights need for signals | Warwick News | Local News in Warwick

A 27-year-old woman was cut from her vehicle and taken to Warwick Hospital after another car crash at the corner of Wood and Dragon streets.

Warwick Daily News

ANOTHER crash at the corner of Wood and Dragon streets happened yesterday but almost a decade after traffic lights were proposed for the intersection, a stop sign is the only thing which stands between motorists and four lanes of highway traffic.

Warwick Police confirmed a 27-year-old Warwick woman suffered neck and back injuries after her car collided with another vehicle at the intersection about 10.45am.

“The female driver was travelling north along Dragon Street when her vehicle collided with a 42-year-old Gordon Park man going west along Wood Street,” a Warwick Police spokesman said.

The woman had to be cut from her vehicle before being taken to Warwick Hospital.

Glenn Com Electrical and Communications owner Glenn Wode has lived next to the intersection for more than six years and could not believe traffic lights had not yet been installed on the menacing cross-road.

“There are continual accidents there and I heard a fair bang (yesterday),” Mr Wode said.

“We have CCTV footage that looks out there so we gave a CD copy to the police. We’ve done that a few times when there’s been accidents here.”

Mr Wode said he preferred using the traffic lights on the corner of Wood and Guy streets rather than chancing the crossing in front of his home business.

“When we drive out, it’s quicker to use the lights near KFC. Wood Street is like trying to cross the Ipswich Motorway,” he said.

“It’s a pronounced spot for accidents. We often hear people hitting the skids.”

Warwick and District Road Safety Group treasurer Doug Cutmore could not agree more as he saw yesterday’s incident moments after it occurred.

“Traffic lights on that intersection need to be given some serious thought. You can sit there for 10 minutes if you’re unlucky,” Mr Cutmore said.

“It’s a busy thoroughfare. As well as being a highway it’s a route which feeds both the Southern Queensland Institute of TAFE and the medical centre.

“It’s the old chestnut though; we can’t put lights on every corner but that intersection is a reality we have to face.”

In the 2002 Department of Transport and Main Roads (DTMR) Warwick Traffic Management Study, Dragon Street was earmarked to have traffic lights at the Wood Street intersection by 2012, however has so far missed funding for the upgrade.

“Wood Street (Cunningham Highway) is a federally-funded road. Funding to implement the proposed strategy (of traffic signals) has not been included in the federally-funded Nation Building Program (2009-2013),” a DTMR spokesperson said.

“The department will continue to make representations to the federal government to secure funding for the future signalisation of this intersection.”

There have been five reported crashes at the intersection between 2001 and March 2008.