There are reports this happened within 100m of a school bus stop.

The road was closed, traffic was diverted, and emergency services rushed to the scene to assist the young driver and assess the damage.

Of the 600 sheep travelling aboard the truck, only two-thirds survived.

A spokesperson from Agriculture Victoria said about 200 sheep died or were euthanised due to the accident.

A tragedy on several fronts.

First and foremost, 200 sheep died on the side of the road; it could have been instantly from the road trauma, slowly as emergency services travelled down the road, or ultimately at the hands of a trained professional due to its condition.

Regardless of whether the sheep were en route to the market to be chops, roasts or dog food, it's not an excellent way to go for any animal.

Any farmer will agree with that.

Given how much money lamb is going for at the market, that load could equate to thousands of dollars lost in an instant.

The economic impact of the crash reverberates across the region.

There's the cost of fixing the truck and trailer; based on the picture of Friday's Wimmera Mail-Times, it will be expensive.

Closing the road for several hours meant reroutes for other travellers. Time lost is money lost.

The driver, a male in his 30s, was taken to hospital with minor injuries.

Lucky.

There's lost wages, insurance claims and reports to contend with down the track.

But the real question is: how will the crash affect him?

When will he get behind the wheel again, and will he take another load of sheep along Horsham-Noradjuha Road?

Horsham-Noradjuha Road is a C-class road; it's on the lower rung of road classifications.

It will not attract a multi-million dollar investment from the state or federal government, but why should it fall on local government?

Horsham Rural City Council is responsible for 2977km of road. It spent about $6.65 million on road maintenance in the 2019-20 financial year.

That was 12 per cent of its revenue, and 40 per cent of all capital works projects for the year.

The Wimmera is no stranger to truck accidents; more than 3000 articles on our website mention truck crashes, including ten in the past 12 months.

What do we as a community need to do to prevent car accidents on the road or at least minimise car accidents?

Ben Fraser, Editor