A New South Wales truck driver has been jailed for over a year following a crash which claimed the lives of 2 other road users. The courier truck driver received a minimum 18 month jail sentence after he took his eyes off the road and slammed into another 2 vehicles, killing 2 people. The truck driver has been sentenced over the incident which resulted in double fatalities, the death of tow truck driver and another motorist who were stopped on the side of the road. The man responsible, Kaine Barnett a 26 year old truckie from NSW was sentenced to 3 years in prison over the double fatalities which took place in February 2012 on the Hume Highway. The truckie was sentenced in Paramatta District Court last week after he was found guilty to two counts of dangerous driving. Fatigue is believed to have played a part in the crash which claimed the lives of 40 year old tow truck driver Geoffrey Clark and 23 year old Sarah Frazer. Both victims died immediately on impact as the truck slammed into them. Ms Frazer’s car was broken down on the narrow breakdown lane on the highway between Sydney and Goulburn near Berrima when Clark had come to help by towing the vehicle. He was loading Ms Frazer’s car onto his tow truck when the accident took place. According to news reports Barnett was distracted for a minute when he looked into his rear vision mirror to reach for his water bottle. The judge said that while it is likely that Barnett was distracted, he also failed to check that the road ahead was clear, which had directly resulted in the deaths of 2 innocent people. Ultimately his behaviour was the reason they are no longer alive and for this reason, Barnett had to pay with time in prison. Perhaps fatigue had more to do with it than Barnett is letting on, because surely before searching for his water bottle he would have assessed the road ahead. It seems more like an involuntary lack of concentration caused by fatigue or a micro-sleep that would result in such an outcome. The justice of the court explained that he handed down such a verdict because he was trying to send a message to other drivers. According to newspaper reports the driver’s distractions lasted at least 8 seconds because it also caused him to miss the hazard and flashing lights on the side of the road. The judge also did not accept Barnett’s excuse that he had momentarily taken his attention off the road but rather believed that he had failed to pay attention for a significant amount of time. Although Barnett was not drunk or under the influence of drugs at the time he possibly could have been affected by fatigue at the time. The father of the female victim, Mr Frazer sympathised with the truck driver and wept with him when his sentence was handed down. Mr Frazer said that the young truckies life was also forever ruined by this tragedy. He hoped that this tragic incident would highlight the dangers of driving while distracted so that no other families would have to lose the ones they love. Mr Frazer who is now also a road safety advocate said this sentence was sad but served as a reminder to others of the importance of road safety. SARAH (Safer Australian Roads and Highways) group of which Mr Frazer is a member last year began lobbying for the NSW government to take action, starting with the widening of the stretch of road where Sarah Frazer and Geoffrey Clark were killed. The NSW government thereafter announced measures in response to the groups lobbying including widening of the road, development of an online application to enable all first call and emergency services vehicle operators to click on any given point and see the width of the road shoulder and advocating new tow truck standards for winching mechanisms to allow left hand side control. While this incident is heart wrenching, it should serve as a reminder to other truckies that it only takes a second of inattention for tragedy to strike. It is also the reason why managing fatigue is such a crucial issue because fatigue causes micro-sleeps which can cause a similar accident to occur or one even worse. Micro-sleeps are short periods of time when a fatigued person dozes off for only a second or two and then wakes up again, most often without any recollection that they were asleep. Many fatal crashes have occurred in this manner and it is one of the most dangerous issues facing the long distance trucking industry.