Bruce Marshall’s children were riding in the school bus when it collided with a truck, and he credited the bus driver’s professionalism with saving the students from serious injury.

For four years, Mr Marshall said, he had warned that an accident on the road was inevitable.

He said contractors’ trucks involved in mining and heavy work in the area drove quickly and dangerously, exceeding the speed limit and crossing double lines.

“They treat it like it’s just one big worksite,” he said.

He said he didn’t want to make accusations over yesterday’s accident, and he didn’t believe the truck involved was speeding, but the problem was ongoing and had never been addressed.

Adding to the danger, he said, the roads were not maintained for consistent heavy usage, with road verges overgrown and in disarray, and tree branches hanging into the road.

He said trucks drove dangerously out of their lanes to keep the branches from knocking their mirrors off.

Signs marking the road as a school bus route have faded and never been replaced, although Mr Marshall said council had been notified of the problem several times in recent years.

Instead of maintaining a high standard of infrastructure to offset the negative impact of mining development around Wollar, he said council had treated the town as “a sacrificial lamb,” abandoned to the mining companies to benefit the rest of the region.