Last week's fatal truck crash on Barrengarry Mountain has prompted nearby residents to blame poor driving and a lack of safe options for emergencies for a series of accidents around the same location.
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Last Friday, a semitrailer crashed over the edge of the mountain, catching fire and killing the driver.
The crash occurred on the same corner as an accident one month earlier when a semitrailer went through the road barrier before going over the edge.
The same corner was also the site of a crash in May 2010, when a tourist coach carrying 30 passengers went over the edge. The driver was killed and 28 passengers were injured.
Barrengarry Mountain residents Peter and Rosemary Stanton have seen countless crashes on the road in the past 20 years.
They believe a number of potential problems come into play on the steep and winding road.
While they believe there is room for safety ramps and arrester-beds, they say most problems come down to poor driving.
"When you live on that mountain you see so many people drive so badly," Mrs Stanton said.
"We have a 500-metre frontage along that road and every week someone hits the rock wall.
"When we ask them what happened, most of them say their brakes failed.
"When we ask them if they were using low gear they often say their car is an automatic.
"People don't seem to understand automatics have low gear and low gear is a great way to save your brakes when driving down a mountain," she said.
Mrs Stanton said most trucks used low gear to come down the hill and while it made their trip safer, car drivers tended to become impatient and overtake on dangerous parts of the road.
"We have seen a couple of fatal crashes where it looked like that was the case," she said.
"Then there are the idiots who use the mountain as a race track.
"After travelling on this road over the past 20 years my advice to drivers is to use low gear, and if you're in an automatic learn how to use low gear."
Mr Stanton wrote a letter to local politicians and the RMS outlining improvements he said should be made on the mountain.
He hoped to draw attention to an area on the hairpin bend in question, which could offer an alternative to vehicles crashing over the edge and through the trees.
After looking at the Office of Transport and Safety Investigations' report into the 2010 bus crash, Mr Stanton agreed with the findings that an area next to the crash scenes, on that bend, could be used as a run-off area.
"There is a deliberate opening in the guard rail at that point," he said. "If that area was signposted as an escape path, there is a chance the drivers of all three fatal crashes could have gone through there, not hit a tree and come to rest eventually on flat ground."
Mr Stanton said he also thought a number of areas further up the mountain appeared suitable for use as safety ramps.
In 2010, the Office of Transport Safety Investigations' report recommended the RMS "examines the feasibility of installing an arrester area suitable for both heavy and light vehicles adjacent to the accident location".
However apart from placing signs warning of the steep descent and the need for heavy vehicles to use low gear, the RMS said there were no suitable locations for an arrester bed on the mountain.
An RMS spokesman said the RMS started an $880,000 project on March 9 to widen road shoulders and remove trees.
"This was done to improve safety at three locations on Barrengarry and Cambewarra mountains to allow room for slow and heavy vehicles to pull over and let other vehicles pass.This work is due to be completed at the end of May."
