Although we always hear about the bad news associated with truck driving, for once a truck driver is receiving some praise for his quick thinking which police say may have saved the lives of innocent road users.
A Ballarat based truck driver, operating a B-Double has been commended by police for deliberately crashing his vehicle in Hamilton into trees and a light pole in order to avoid hitting other vehicles and possibly injuring or killing other motorists, passengers and/or pedestrians.
When the truck’s brakes apparently failed the driver was clever enough to steer in-between some parked cars and into the trees and light pole.
The man was transporting potatoes in the vehicle at the time when he realised that his brakes had failed and he was approaching a sharp decline in the road. He then managed to avoid other vehicles and crash instead into the stationary objects.
The following excerpt from a post on www.standard.net.au explains further:
Sergeant Rex Habel said the 37-year-old was carting a load of potatoes south on Pope Street just at 4.10pm yesterday when he realised his trailers’ brakes were not operating.
The driver was approaching a sharp decline in the road and to avoid traffic he managed to steer between parked vehicles and collide with trees and a light pole.
The light pole fell onto the road and another motorists drove over it causing minor damage to the undercarriage of that vehicle.
The truck come to rest narrowly missing a high voltage electricity transformer.
Although this driver was quick thinking and lucky enough to avoid an accident, the situation could have turned out much worse especially if there was no clear path to the trees and light pole and the truck had collided with other vehicles or pedestrians.
This incident reminds me of the importance of vehicle maintenance and ensuring that all safety checks are conducted before every run.
Operators and truck drivers should remember that maintenance is a critical component of truck safety because not all drivers have the experience and capabilities of the driver in this incident. It also highlights the importance of training, particularly chain of responsibility training because the driver isn’t the only one in the supply chain that has a duty of care under COR laws.
Police representative,Sergeant Rex Habel went on to offer his praise of the driver:
“The driver made a split-second decision to exit the road when he realised he was rapidly approaching traffic on the decline without brakes to his trailers,” Sergeant Habel said.
“It was a masterful piece of driving. No one was injured and there was the potential for a major incident to occur. Police who attended the accident scene found the connections between the air hose brakes and the trailers had blown.”
Sergeant Habel said police would take no action against the driver.
Click Here For More info on Chain of Responsibility courses.
