A community group has called for a speed reduction on a major West Australian highway after a second fatal car crash on the same section of road in three months.
Yesterday a 75-year-old man died after the flatbed truck he was driving collided with a cattle truck near an intersection of the South Western Highway, near Picton East in Bunbury.
The cattle truck rolled, blocking the highway for several hours.
Its driver escaped with non-life threatening injuries.
In June, a woman in her 80s died metres from yesterday's crash when her car collided with a second vehicle at the intersection of South Western Highway and Hynes Road.
Greg Homer, who has run a business along the highway for nine years, said yesterday's crash really hit home.
"I had been feeling frustration and confusion as to why the speed limit is not getting dropped," he said.
"But last night, coming home, that all changed to fear.
"I had to drive the kilometre or two past the road block to get home wondering, 'Is that my wife and three children?'
Mr Homer chairs the local Community Action Group, which is calling for the 1.8-kilometre stretch of the highway to be reduced from 100 kilometres per hour to 80km/h.
"Our belief is that you take the road from 100 to 80 kilometres per hour, and all of a sudden you turn fatalities into severe accidents," he said.
"You turn severe accidents intro minor accidents and you turn all those minor near misses into something that wasn't an occurrence at all.
"We think it's high time [authorities] stop just looking at technical data and listen to the people on the ground who do see the near misses, the accidents and the tragedies."
Speed reductions 'not warranted'
After the June fatality the action group called on Main Roads WA to investigate the need for a speed reduction.
Main Roads spokesman, Dean Roberts, said that review, based on traffic data and road environment, found a speed reduction was "not warranted".
"Speed limits across the network are continually assessed to ensure they meet driver expectations and achieve a balance between traffic safety, land use amenity and transport efficiency," he said.
A new safety review will now take place in response to the most recent fatal accident.
WA Roads Minister Rita Saffioti said she was saddened to hear about the fatal crash.
"Any fatality on our roads is one to many," she said in a statement.
"Police and Main Roads will both undertake an investigation into the accident and I will await those findings."
