Sergeant Craig Veness said he had attended, investigated and prosecuted “thousands” of traffic accidents over a lengthy career in the police force, and “my radar for trouble spots is pretty acutely tuned”.

A trouble spot had developed beside Worrigee Road, near the turn-off to the equestrian common, according to Sergeant Veness who was on a break from the police force following a health scare.

The big concern, he said, was a small open drain surrounded by a metal grate he said could easily claim a life.

The drain is used to collect run-off from a housing estate after it goes under Worrigee Road, but is in a dangerous position, Sergent Veness said.

“The worst kinds of traffic hazards are the ones people don’t see until it’s too late,” he said.

The drain is near the end of a long, straight stretch of road, and just beside a “passive” right-hand bend as vehicles travel south.

Sergeant Veness said the long straight road, the semi-rural setting and the fact the road was poorly lit “all leads itself to people travelling in excess of the 60km/h speed limit”.

The bend was not signposted, “and I’m not suggesting that it ought to be, it just adds to the scenario that the corner will be upon you before you know it, under certain circumstances”.

Should a car come off the road, “straight away you are literally on a slippery slope, that’s fully grassed,” Sergeant Veness said.

From there it would inevitably run through a metal fence and into the water, where a grid could make it impossible for a person to escape their vehicle before drowning.

“If you’re unconscious or trapped in there, you’re dead,” Sergeant Veness said.

Yet the problem could be avoided.

“It is completely avoidable. If we act now, with a relatively small investment, we can avoid a tragedy,” he said.

He felt a cover was needed over the drain to “at least provide a formidable barrier to a vehicle ending up in there and trapping the occupant”.

“I accept it’s got to be there, but finish the job,” he said.

“It may not seem like a big thing in the scheme of things, but if it’s your son or daughter stuck in there, then the situation’s different.”