Another heavy linehaul truck crashes on another wide, fast, multi-laned highway

Truck drivers paid on a trip rate, not the safer hourly rate.

.

Hume Highway at Marulan July 2013:

.

<< A man has died in a crash involving a truck and several cars on the Hume Highway, about 15km south of Marulan.

A NSW Police spokeswoman:

“The male driver of the semi-trailer was ejected from his vehicle and died at the scene.  Emergency services responded to reports of a collision between a semi-trailer, a smaller truck and two cars in the southbound lanes of the Hume Highway” at 6.25pm (last night).  The drivers of the other vehicles and their passengers were assessed by paramedics on site before being taken to Goulburn Base Hospital for further treatment.”

One southbound lane of the highway remained closed on Tuesday morning as traffic was directed around the crash site.  >>

.

.

Hume Highway at Kyeamba Gap  (same night):

.

<< Meanwhile, northbound lanes remain closed on the Hume Highway at Kyeamba Gap between Tumbarumba Road and Little Billabong Road following a truck accident there early this morning. >>

.

[Source:  ‘One dead in Hume Highway crash’, 20130709, by Tom McIlroy and Stephanie Anderson, The Canberra Times, ^http://www.canberratimes.com.au/act-news/one-dead-in-hume-highway-crash-20130708-2pm8b.html]

.

.

Hume Highway at Marulan March 2012:

.

<< About 12.45am (Tuesday March 27, 2012) a B-double semi-trailer was travelling north laden with furniture , about 5km south of Marulan overnight.

The semi rolled onto its side spilling its load onto the highway, blocking all northbound lanes.  A semi-trailer travelling behind the B-double truck crashed into the rear of the B-Double.

The driver of the B-double was taken to Goulburn Base Hospital suffering a possible fractured rib, while the driver of the second truck was not hurt.  A salvage operation is underway following a double truck crash on the Hume Highway.

.

[Source:  ‘Truck crash causes Hume Highway delays’, 20120326, The Yass Tribune,  ^http://www.yasstribune.com.au/story/215489/truck-crash-causes-hume-highway-delays/]

.

Australian Native Landscapes linehaul semi jack-knifes

One of many speeding over the B,ue Mountains

Truck drivers paid on a trip rate, not the safer hourly rate.

.

<< Jack knifed … a truck accident shut the Great Western Highway at Mount Victoria this morning.  The highway was shut for over an hour after a truck jack knifed blocking both lanes of the highway.   A heavy tow truck was brought in to remove the truck.  The road reopened around midday.

.

[Source:  ‘Truck blocks Great Western Highway’, 20120418, ^http://www.westernadvocate.com.au/story/96085/truck-blocks-great-western-highway/]

.

.

Hume Highway at Marulan 29 July 2011

.

Australia Post (government-owned)  StarTrack Express B-Double truck crashes off the Hume Highway

The overnight linehaul truck driver fell asleep on cruise control

Truck drivers paid on a trip rate, not the safer hourly rate.

[Photo: CHRIS GORDON]

.

<<The 47-year-old driver of this rig died when it ran off the Hume Highway near Marulan in the early hours of July 29. A report is being prepared for the coroner.

ROAD CLOSURE: The scene of Wednesday morning’s accident 500 metres south of Goulburn’s northern exit at 6am when for unknown reasons a B-double left the road. The driver suffered minor injuries.

With another two serious truck accidents on the Hume Highway near Goulburn in the past two weeks – one of them fatal – the Goulburn Post examines whether cruise control is a possible factor. LEIGH BOTTRELL reports.

IS cruise control on long-distance trucks – often allied with automatic transmission – contributing to serious accidents on our main highways?

This question increasingly is being raised as big semis and B-doubles proliferate and speed limits are increased on some major NSW country roads. Or, is boredom leading to drowsiness, brought on by modern “easy driving” truck technology and improved highways, the real culprit?

The jury is still out on this, while there is not yet definitive accident survey evidence pointing to cruise control’s role in accidents. But anecdotal evidence and practical knowledge of people long-associated with big rigs and their drivers suggests cruise-auto can be a mixed blessing.

Bert Cool has seen the aftermath of more truck accidents than probably anyone else in his 30 years with Royans, the Wagga Wagga-headquartered heavy vehicle recovery and repair group.

Now operating Australia-wide, Royans over the years have been called on to haul thousands of trucks back onto the road from every imaginable predicament. Too often, the smashed or burnt cabs tell the story of lives lost and families shattered.

And Bert Cool has no doubt that drivers falling asleep while their long-haul rigs are running on cruise control is a contributing factor to a growing number of highway accidents.

.

Bert Cool:

“Definitely. It happens more often now. A driver can nod off and the truck just keeps going, because he doesn’t have his foot on the accelerator. Before he wakes up, they’re in the scrub, or they hit something. 

Before cruise control, if a driver dropped off at the wheel his foot nearly always fell away from the accelerator and the truck slowed down. He usually was woken up before they got into real trouble.”

.

However, Sergeant Rod Cranston, of Goulburn police highway patrol, doubts that cruise control by itself is a contributing factor to truck accidents.

.

[Source:  ‘Cruise control, fatigue’, 20110811, by Leigh Bottrell, The Goulburn Post, ^http://www.goulburnpost.com.au/story/972063/cruise-control-fatigue/]

.

[Ed (ex-trucker):  Overnight driving is inherently dangerous, and with trucks the risk is exacerbated.  Linehaul (long-distance) freight should travel by rail for reasons of safety away from ordinary road users and economy of scale.  Local distribution freight should travel BY DAY on the roads until governments can adequately safeguard local communities from the unacceptable risks and consequences of heavy-vehicle driver fatigue. 

Linehaul rail freight is inherently safer that linehaul road freight when professional management is on par.  Linehaul rail freight is cheaper per unit of freight over a large volume.  This will be moreso as the price of imported diesel structurally increases.

For hundreds of linehaul trucks driven by hundreds of drivers to do the job of one linehaul train say Sydney to Darwin is uneconomic. The door delivery component either end requires logistical design and efficiency (pulling bureaucratic fingers out).

Immorally, trucking companies exploit truck drivers by denying them employee status and benefits, selfishly to shift decent driver wages and benefits to employer profit.

Yet both Federal and State governments across Australia are stuck in a 20th Century truck-centric mindset when it comes to freight logistics strategic planning, disregarding the environment ruined in the process of building bigger, more and wider highways, disregarding the permanent negative impacts upon local communities, and driving truck drivers to early graves.  It is all very selfish and ^Robber Baron in thinking.  The main beneficiaries are the trucking barons.]

.

Bullaburra, its vegetation and rural amenity destroyed

So that more and bigger trucks can cruise on 80kph (nudging 90kph)

Like Woodford, the RTA-come-RMS will soon deem Bullaburra not to be a village, as if it never existed.

[Photo by Editor, 20130630, Photo © under  ^Creative Commons, click image to enlarge]

.

Read More:

.

>Threats from Road Making – articles

 

.

---

.

.

Linehaul has a smarter way:  Intermodal Rail/Road Logistics

.
Bucharest International Rail Freight Terminal (BIRFT)

A semi-trailer from the first scheduled train with intermodal wagons to arrive from Germany and Austria at BIRFT is transferred to a road vehicle by ‘Big George’ on 29 October. The terminal is operated by Tibbett Logistics, part of the UK-based Keswick Enterprises Group

.

<< Romanian-based ^Tibbett Logistics, the operator of South-Eastern Romania’s prime intermodal rail terminal, has this week received the first scheduled train with intermodal wagons from Germany and Austria. The new service will initially comprise two trains a week in each direction.

The first train arrived early on the morning of 29th October 2012 with 38 units – eight semi-trailers and 30 45’ pallet-wide continental containers, destined for import customers in the south east of Romania, primarily Bucharest and Ploiesti.

Tibbett Logistics has recently renamed the terminal as the Bucharest International Rail Freight Terminal, or BIRFT, because it has become clear to the company – which is part of the UK-based Keswick Enterprises Group – that a large proportion of the marketplace in Eastern Europe remains unaware that the services offered at the terminal go well beyond simple domestic road-rail transportation.

The open-access terminal is used to transfer shipping containers arriving on rail wagons to road trailers, and vice versa. BIRFT is the only such facility in Romania operating regular scheduled block trains between Constanta Port and Bucharest, on both import and export movements. Customers include the major shipping lines and freight forwarders, as well as direct users.

In addition, it is the only intermodal rail terminal offering CFS (Container Freight Station) and warehousing services within the terminal itself, linked directly to the rail tracks. The terminal accommodates domestic and international conventional rail wagon traffic, and Tibbett Logistics combines these activities with conventional road transport whenever the latter is more efficient than collecting or delivering containers using its own rail wagons.

Completing the services offered at the terminal are stripping/stuffing containers, customs clearance and transit operations, along with container management, repair and storage.

Tibbett Logistics CEO, David Goldsborough, commented: “We believe that – via the Port of Constanta – Romania is the natural entry point to Europe from the East and elsewhere. Our aim is to facilitate the efficient transportation of goods from the Port to end-destinations throughout Europe, as well as from EU states back to Romania.

“Since the inception of our regular block trains between Constanta and Bucharest we have had many discussions with users and potential users regarding other rail-related services – including the handling of conventional wagons, where we already have an excellent infrastructure in place. We have developed additional services so that we can customise the mix of rail-based and road-based transportation in either containers or conventional trucks – depending on the exact needs of the customer. Given the increasing cost of diesel, this is being very well received by both existing clients and those coming to the service for the first time.”

Tibbett Logistics is Romania’s largest privately owned contract logistics specialist. In addition to intermodal activities, it offers comprehensive supply chain management services to the automotive, textiles, retail and other FMCG sectors throughout Romania and across South East Europe. It operates approximately 70,000 square metres of warehousing, plus a distribution fleet comprising tilt trailers, double- and triple-chamber reefers and container chassis – along with its own intermodal rail wagons. >>

.

[Source:  Bucharest International Rail Freight Terminal receives first intra-EU train, 20121102, ^http://www.keswickenterprises.com/news.php]

.

Yet another Dangerous Trucking Menace along the Great Western Highway – last week

[Source:  ‘Firies save “catastrophic” incident after truck catches fire at Faulconbridge’, 20130222, Blue Mountains Gazette, Photo: Top Notch Video

^http://www.bluemountainsgazette.com.au/story/1320007/firies-save-catastrophic-incident-after-truck-catches-fire-at-faulconbrige/]

.

The Dangerous Trucking Menace is becoming increasingly prevalent across the Blue Mountains on both the Great Western Highway and the Bells Line of Road.

This is because the ‘Roads and Traffic Authority‘ – rebranded but culturally unchanged to the ‘Transport Roads and Maritime Services‘ is tasked to re-engineer the Great Western Highway, a regional and local road, to facilitate more trucks.

The trucking mandate is to transform the highway into an expressway designed for bigger and faster trucks, just like the F3 Motorway between outer Sydney and the regional city of Newcastle, as infamously deadly that the F3 is.

The trucking mandate is national and driven by an Australia-wide freight transport policy which prioritises 95% road and 5% rail.  The truck-centric policy is steered by self-interested influential trucking magnates and their industry, whose driving catch-phrase is ‘time is money‘ and so any community along the highway that slows their trucks down must be dealt with.     They fund political economic rationalism which prefers to outsource and privatise instead of responsibly investing in national rail freight infrastructure.

Highway communities are treated as second class citizens.   Residents like the many thousands across the Blue Mountains are increasing exposed to the Dangerous Trucking Menace, when sharing the highway and from their homes:

• Bigger trucks and more B-Doubles
• Speeding trucks
• Tailgating trucks
• Trucks over the centre double lines
• Truck drivers frequently seen talking on a mobile phone while driving
• Exhaust brakes used at all hours through towns and villages
• Collisions and deaths
• Overturned trucks
• Broken down trucks
• Trucks on fire
• Truck tankers with gas, fuel or hazardous chemical leaks
• Selfish truckies sleeping outside residents at all hours with refrigerator motors running at Mt Victoria
• Same selfish truckies found urinating and defecating in residents’ front verges at Mt Victoria.

.

[Ed:  And truckies and their supporting wives wonder why truckies have a bad reputation and often cop blame?  Trucking is not a profession.  It is a uncontrolled cowboy skill-easy job earning pittance, attracting imbeciles and causing reckless maiming and death. This Editor has continued to hold an ‘HC’ licence from 1989, but income-wise has long since moved on.]

.

Source:  Blackheath Highway Action Group

‘The Blackheath Highway Action group was formed in 2008 to fight a proposal to turn the Great Western Highway

into a 4 lane high productivity freight vehicle (25/26/30m B-doubles) route across the Blue Mountains.

Website: ^http://www.bag.asn.au

.

Hardly a week passes without some report of a truck-related incident along the Great Western Highway and especially along the Hume Freeway, F3 Motorway and Pacific Highway, and that is just in New South Wales.  One local resident of the Blue Mountains, a Marcus Padley, terms these ‘Mack Truck Moments‘.  If only it were funny.  Last month Sarina Heta in her Kia Rio sedan wasn’t laughing when she was violently crushed between two B-doubles on the Great Western highway at Blackheath.

Australia has no central register of truck incidents, but if it did one wagers that the occurrence would be a daily one.  This is unacceptable yet the trucking menace is encouraged and poorly controlled or policed.

Currently, the Great Western Highway is being widened to four lanes at Hazelbrook at great expense and considerable delay due to poor due diligence and mismanagement.  In the re-engineered design, all interests of trucks are priorities by the road engineers, while local residents have little or no say.  As each stage of widening transformation takes place, successive affected communities become disheartened and confronted by the bulldozing of the regional highway and its replacement with a much wider trucking expressway.

Lawson has been completely obliterated and its character ‘lobotomised‘ as a town.

.

Lawson

before the Trucking Expressway bulldozers

.

Neo-Lawson

Shops bulldozed

Village Character urban lobotomised

.

Soon it will be neighbouring Bullaburra’s turn and highway properties are already up for sale.

Bullaburra:   On Trucking Death Row

.

The Bells Line of Road across the Blue Mountains is also having its side shoulders widened to accommodate B-double trucks 24/7 and is involving the destruction of native vegetation for kilometres.  Stage 1 is around the agricultural village of Bilpin.

Many sand and gravel B-Double style trucks use the Bells Line of Road between quarries and Sydney.  They are paid a trip rate and so travel at excessive speed to maximise trips per day.  The road has no speed cameras and is rarely patrolled by police.  It has become an infamous trucking cowboy route.  In June 2012, a sand loaded semi-trailer collided with two cars near Mt Tomah.  The truck was probably over the centre double lines like they usually are.

Semi-trailer cowboy carrying sand and speeding, 4km west of Mount Tomah, June 2012

It rolled, spilling its load across the Bells Line of Road

[Source:  ^http://www.cowracommunitynews.com/viewnews.php?newsid=834&id=3]

 

In May 2011, a gravel truck overturned on the Bells Line of Road while exceeding the speed limit.  The road is a renowned trucking menace and car drivers and motorbike riders use it at their own risk.   In July 2009, a motorcyclist has been killed on the Bells Line of Road 10 kilometres west of the Mount Tomah.  It must have surely been a ‘Mack Truck Moment‘.

 

B-Double Rollover on the Bells Line of Road (Nov 2010)

“West Sector Brigades are frequently called to accidents on the Bells Line of Road and Darling Causeway”.

[Source: Rural Fire Service, ^http://www.bluemountains.rfs.nsw.gov.au/dsp_content.cfm?cat_id=129643]

.

The government’s Trucking Expressway Mandate is to keep widening the Great Western Highway out to mainly four lanes between outer Sydney where the 6-lane M4 Motorway currently links to, and all the way out to Orange and beyond.  The long-term trucking strategy to eventually encourage 24/7 trucking of B-doubles between Sydney and Perth and Darwin.  In western Victoria even B-triples have been introduced, which are basically Road Trains – give the trucking lobby time.

B-doubles have to date been prohibited from the Great Western Highway due to its narrow unsuitable design and to respect the fact that it passes through nearly two dozen regional town and villages.    But that is constantly being challenged and undermined by hard-nosed government policy.

The dangerous misguided premise by the policy and by road engineers is that a wider a faster trucking expressway will be safer than the existing highway, yet the evidence refutes that.  All one needs to do is consider the repeated statistical record of trucks incidents along the already widened sections of the Great Western highway, and indeed along the RTA/RMS’s favourite creation, its F3 Motorway.

The following recent reports of trucking incidents are testament to the trucking menace that trucking expressways attract.

.

2nd March 2013:   ‘Overturned Truck Closes F3 at Mount White’

.

<<Mount White: The F3 remains closed northbound approaching the Old Pacific Highway Overpass in Mount White due to a truck accident.  Motorists are being diverted off the F3 onto the Old Pacific Highway at the Hawkesbury Interchange in Mooney Mooney.  Emergency services and RMS crews are on site, working to clear the accident as quickly as possible…>

.

[Source:  ^http://www.facebook.com/livetrafficnsw/posts/451301384941574]

.

27 Feb 2013:  ‘Lanes reopen on F3 after gas leak’

.

<<All southbound and northbound lanes have reopened on the F3 near Motorway Link Road in Warnervale now that gas bottles are no longer leaking on the back of a truck.  Gas cylinders began leaking on the back of a truck near Motorway Link Road about 6.45pm, forcing the closure of southbound lanes and one northbound lane.>>

.

[Source:  ‘Lanes reopen on F3 after gas leak’, 20130227, by Sam Rigney, The Newcastle Herald, ^http://www.theherald.com.au/story/1330772/lanes-reopen-on-f3-after-gas-leak/?cs=305]

.

20 Feb 2013:  ‘F3 Truck Fire’

.

<<There was a lucky escape for a truck driver on the Central Coast yesterday.  Just after 11am, a Rutherford-bound semi trailer full of clay caught fire, forcing the closure of northbound lanes of the F3 Freeway at Mount White.  The driver, from Victoria, had pulled the rig over after seeing smoke billowing from the engine.  He escaped unharmed but the same couldn’t be said for the prime mover.>>

.

[Source:  ‘F3 Truck Fire’, 20130220, ^http://www.nbnnews.com.au/index.php/2013/02/20/f3-truck-fire-2/]

.

7 Feb 2013:  ‘Hume Highway traffic affected after truck roll over’

.

<<Both northbound lanes of the Hume Highway were closed south of Tarcutta following the accident but one northbound lane was since been re-opened.  The accident about 15km south of Tarcutta occurred shortly after 9am this morning.   Emergency services are in attendance and a HAZMAT team has been sent following reports of diesel over the road.  Motorists are advised to drive with caution if in the area and to allow for extra time on their journey.>>

.

[Source:  ‘Hume Highway traffic affected after truck roll over’, 20130207, ^http://www.dailyadvertiser.com.au/story/1285399/hume-highway-traffic-affected-after-truck-roll-over/]

.

Nov 2012:  ‘Traffic slow at Ourimbah following truck rollover’

.

<<Traffic is slowing on the F3 Freeway near Ourimbah on the Central Coast where a semi-trailer rolled onto its side about 9.30am.  It is understood the driver was trapped for a short time but has since been freed and police are on-site managing the clean up and traffic control.>>

.

[Source: ‘Traffic slow at Ourimbah following truck rollover’, 20121108, by Gabriel Wingate-Pearse, The Newcastle Herald, ^http://www.theherald.com.au/story/786786/traffic-slow-at-ourimbah-following-truck-rollover/]

.

Mar 2012:  ‘Police target second trucking firm over safety’

.

<<New South Wales police are targeting another truck company over suspected serious safety breaches.  Trucks from the South Australian-based Scott’s transport are being stopped at several heavy vehicle checking stations, including the F3 freeway at Mount White and the Hume Highway at Marulan.  Officials from Roads and Maritime Services are also involved in the operation.

Police say one of the company’s B-double trucks was caught driving on the Hume Highway at Mittagong at 142 kilometres per hour early on Monday morning.  Officers are searching for 32 Scott’s trucks out of the company’s fleet of more than 300, and say that number may rise.  They say the trucks will then undergo a comprehensive mechanical inspection.  The investigation follows an operation against Sydney-based Lennons Transport Services, where police say speed limiting devices in numerous trucks had been tampered with.

A Lennons driver is before the courts charged over a crash that killed three people on the Hume Highway at Menangle in January.>>

.

[Source:  ‘Police target second trucking firm over safety’, 20120308, ABC News, ^http://www.abc.net.au/news/2012-03-07/police-target-second-trucking-firm-over-safety/3874324]

.

Jul 2011:  ‘Delays on freeway after truck rollover’

.

<<NSW motorists on the F3 freeway are being warned to expect significant delays after a B-double truck rolled over at Cooranbong southwest of Newcastle.  The truck, which was carrying milk, rolled onto its side and skidded for several metres at the Freemans Drive overpass before being hit by a ute.

The truck driver was taken to hospital but the woman driving the ute escaped injury.  A salvage operation is underway but it is expected the freeway will be blocked for several hours. Southbound traffic is being diverted at Palmers Drive to re-enter at Freemans Drive southbound on-ramp.>>

.

[Source:  ‘Delays on freeway after truck rollover’, 20110713, AAP, ^http://www.heraldsun.com.au/news/breaking-news/delays-on-freeway-after-truck-rollover/story-e6frf7jx-1226093503064]

.

Aug 2010:  ‘Heavy metal horror as deaths soar’

.

Lost load … the scene at Chullora where a refrigerated pantech fell from a truck

[Source:  Picture: Bill Hearne, The Daily Telegraph]

.

<<It was a year of carnage for the state’s truck drivers, with the number of fatal accidents increasing by more than 90 per cent, government statistics reveal.

There were 23 fatal crashes involving heavy rigid trucks – non-articulated vehicles greater than eight tonnes – in 2009. This was up from 12 a year earlier, the Bureau of Infrastructure, Transport and Regional Economics (BITRE) said.  The BITRE data also showed the number of people killed in accidents involving heavy rigid trucks in NSW was up 100 per cent to 24, when deaths in Australia decreased by 14.7 per cent.

The RTA dismissed claims that the increase in the road death statistics were a cause for concern.  The RTA’s NSW Centre for Road Safety director Soames Job said the increase was the result of a reduction in deaths the year before.   “The main number that produces the outcome is the low number of deaths the previous year. It was extraordinary that we had so few in 2008,” Dr Job said.

Fatal accidents involving articulated trucks fell from 47 in 2008 to 34 in 2009, BITRE said.  The figures came as a truck driver had a lucky escape in Sydney’s west on Tuesday night.

The refrigerated section of a meat carrier sheared from the truck and rolled on to the Hume Highway flyover at Chullora.  A crane was brought in to right the truck to clear the road.

Dr Job said in many crashes, the smaller vehicle might be at fault.  “Lots of these accidents will involve speed and fatigue and that is what we are trying to address,” he said. “We have this large program of speed enforcement in areas where there is known heavy truck traffic and that is why we have said we’ll roll out 20 locations of point-to-point speed cameras across our highway network”..>>

.

[Source:  ‘Heavy metal horror as deaths soar’, 20100812, by Rhys Haynes, The Daily Telegraph, ^http://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/news/sydney-news/heavy-metal-horror-as-deaths-soar/story-e6freuzi-1225904114783]

.

Aug 2010:  ‘B-double crashes on F3, shutting southbound lanes’

.

<<Motorists using the F3 Freeway are being told to divert their travel or face significant traffic delays after a B-double carrying gas cylinders crashed today.  The truck was carrying 1600 nine kilogram cylinders when it hit the eastern brick wall just before the Hawkesbury River Bridge about 9:15am.

No one was injured but the crash forced police to close two of the three southbound lanes. Northbound lanes remain open and all lanes are expected to be opened by 4pm.  Southbound motorists are being urged to avoid the area by taking the Pacific Highway exit at Brooklyn,” a police statement says.  “The gas cylinders are being removed by hand for safety reasons prior to the B-double being removed.  Inquiries into the crash are continuing.>>

.

[Source:  ‘B-double crashes on F3, shutting southbound lanes’, 20100831, ^http://www.fullyloaded.com.au/…]

.

Jun 2010:  ‘Driver dies after flipping truck on F3’

.

<<A man has died in a truck accident on the F3 at Mount White on the New South Wales central coast yesterday.  Police say the driver was turning into a heavy vehicle checking station when his trailer jackknifed at about 3:30pm.  The truck then flipped onto the driver’s side before sliding into a power pole.  The male driver, who has not been formally identified, was killed.  A report will be prepared for the Coroner.>>

.

[Source:  ‘Driver dies after flipping truck on F3’, 20100614, ABC News, ^http://www.abc.net.au/news/2010-06-14/driver-dies-after-flipping-truck-on-f3/865866]

.

Apr 2010:  ‘Highway smash raises response time questions’

.

<<The New South Wales Roads Minister says the RTA did not act quickly enough to re-open the F3 Freeway after an accident south of Newcastle yesterday, which left motorists stranded for hours.

A flat-bed truck ran into the back of a fully loaded fuel tanker on the freeway around midday near Mount White, with the accident closing all northbound lanes.

The RTA set up a contraflow around the accident site, using southbound lanes for motorists heading north, and diverting southbound traffic along the old Pacific Highway.

Questions are being asked why it took so long to set up the contraflow, which was not in place until at least eight hours after the crash.

Hazmat crews worked to remove fuel from the tanker, with the Fire Brigade declaring the area safe sometime around midnight.

The Roads and Transport Minister David Campbell says he will be meeting with the RTA today to discuss the delay in re-opening the road.>>

.

[Source:  ‘Highway smash raises response time questions’,  20100413, ^http://www.abc.net.au/news/2010-04-13/highway-smash-raises-response-time-questions/2588890]

.

Apr 2010:  ‘F3 still closed after tanker crash’

.

<<The northbound lanes of the F3 freeway north of Sydney could remain closed for up to six hours this evening after a truck accident.

A truck crashed into the back of a fuel tanker at Mount White and traffic is being diverted via the Old Pacific Highway.

The man driving the truck was taken to hospital with serious head injuries.

NSW Fire Brigade controller Ian Krimmer says it could take some time before the fuel is transferred from the tanker and the freeway is re-opened.

“Not good news at all unfortunately. We’re in the hands of the transport company that is trying on scene to conduct the pumping process,” he said.

“When it arrives on scene we have to remember there’s some 43,000 litres of fuel before we can remove the tanker from the road.

“That process could take four to six hours.”>>

.

[Source:  ‘F3 still closed after tanker crash’, ABC News, 20100412, ^http://www.abc.net.au/news/2010-04-12/f3-still-closed-after-tanker-crash/2599556]

.

Apr 2010:  ‘Major delays after F3 truck crash’

.

<<A truck driver has been left with serious head injuries after an accident on the New South Wales central coast.  Police say the accident happened on the F3 Freeway at Mount White at about 11:40am (AEST).  It is believed a flat-bed vegetable truck ran into the back of a fully laden petrol tanker…>>

.

[Source:  ‘Major delays after F3 truck crash’, 20100412, ABC News, ^http://www.abc.net.au/news/2010-04-12/major-delays-after-f3-truck-crash/2596044]

.

Sep 2009:  ‘Delays on Sydney’s F3 after another fatality’

.

<<Traffic is being delayed on the F3 freeway as police investigate a death near the Mooney Mooney Bridge, south of Gosford.  Police say a man fell onto the road and died just after 1pm AEST.  All northbound lanes have been closed while investigations are carried out…>>

.

[Source:  ‘Delays on Sydney’s F3 after another fatality’,  20090903, ABC News, ^http://www.abc.net.au/news/2009-09-03/delays-on-sydneys-f3-after-another-fatality/1415962]

.

Aug 2009:  ‘Young parents and baby die in F3 inferno’

.

The wreckage on the F3 after the fatal crash

A couple and baby killed

[Photo: Matt Black Productions]

.

<<A young Gosford couple and their baby were killed when their car burst into flames in a crash involving a B-double truck and another car on the F3 freeway on the NSW Central Coast yesterday night.

Police said two cars stopped on the freeway before a truck struck both vehicles from behind, killing a 27-year-old woman, a 32-year-old man and a five-month-old baby at 10.50pm. The impact caused one of the cars and the truck to catch fire.  There was also another triple fatality in central-northern NSW about 10.30am today on Newell Highway near Narrabri.

Police said the bodies of the young family were found in the charred car on the 110 km/h marked stretch of road near the Mount White weigh-bridge. Two other people were taken to Gosford Hospital with various injuries.

Metropolitan crash investigator Sergeant Peter Jenkins said the family’s car was completely “incinerated”.  “For some reason the two vehicles have become stationary in lane one, northbound, they’re not in the breakdown lane, they’re actually still in the traffic lane,” he told Macquarie Radio today.

“The young family’s car is the southern vehicle, another northbound car has braked and stopped and swerved to miss it and entered into the breakdown lane.

“Since that’s happened the truck driver’s been exposed to these two vehicles and he’s done what he can, but he hasn’t been able to avoid these two vehicles.”   He said the truck driver was suffering from shock and had been discharged from hospital after speaking to police.

Towers Transport general manager John Perkins said the truck driver was very upset.  “He has no apparent physical injuries … he’s extremely distraught,” Mr Perkins said.

He would not comment on the circumstances surrounding the accident but said the company had never been involved in a fatal crash.  “We’ve been in business for 20 years, we’ve got about 50 trucks, and this is the first time we’ve been faced with something like this,” Mr Perkins said.

The driver of the second car was taken to Gosford Hospital for treatment, but police have been unable to to speak to him. His condition is unknown.   The family has been identified and some relatives have been notified of their deaths, he said.

Sergeant Jenkins played down claims the stretch of road was dangerous, saying he hadn’t been able to attribute a serious crash in the area to the design or condition of the road in the past 20 years.

“I think the F3 is actually quite a good stretch of road in most parts,” he said.

“Inquiries into the circumstances leading up to the crash are continuing,” a police spokesman said.

‘Expect long delays’

Northbound lanes on the F3 freeway out of Sydney have reopened to traffic but motorists are warned to expect long delays.

All northbound lanes were closed while police removed the bodies and wreckage and carried out an investigation until about 11.20am today.

Despite reopening the lanes, traffic is still banked up for almost 10 kilometres between Mount White and the Hawkesbury River, the Road and Traffic Authority says.

“All lanes are open on the F3, but traffic will take a while to clear, an RTA spokesman told AAP.

“Traffic is still heavy with significant delays and people who have been diverted on to the Pacific Highway will also experience significant delays.”

It is the second major crash in two days on the F3 in that area. Four people escaped serious injury in a six-vehicle crash caused when a piece of scaffolding fell off a semitrailer at Mooney Mooney yesterday.

Police are appealing for anyone who might have seen the crash and are yet to speak to crash investigators to contact them via Crime Stoppers on 1800 333 000.>>

.

[Source:  ‘Young parents and baby die in F3 inferno’,  20090828,  by Georgina Robinson, Dylan Welch and AAP, ^http://www.smh.com.au/national/young-parents-and-baby-die-in-f3-inferno-20090828-f1fe.html]

.

SELECTED COMMENTS TO THIS INCIDENT:

.

Maxamillion:

<<Car drivers have had lots of restrictions placed on them over the years in an attempt to reduce the road toll including school zones due to a slight increase in accidents. A 100% increase in heavy truck deaths is not acceptable. Reduce their speeds to 60kph and reduce fatigue by reducing driving time to 6 hours per day and accidents due to speed or fatigue will drop. Imagine what would happen if car deaths increased 100%. Would we see changes, you can bet on it.>>

.

Rod Pickin:

<<Until the maximum road speed for heavy vehicles is limited to 80kph, you can expect a continued increase in accidents/deaths involving these vehicles. Currently heavy vehicles are being driven dangerously and at high speed as a result of work/deadline pressures imposed upon drivers by owners/operators and major supermarket customers all sanctioned by govt. bodies.

Truly how rediculous is it that a fully loaded B-Double even road train fuel/gas tanker is legally allowed on our highways in the wet to travel at 100kph? that is just inviting major drama so one is entitled to ask, who is putting presure on who in order that this be allowed.>

.

Rob:

<<I’ve noticed the lack of ‘100 speed limited’ signs on most trucks these days as they go flying past me on the highways while I’m obeying the limit.>>

.

Julian:

<<This is sad. The carnage on the F3 goes on, mostly involving semi-trailers. When I take my family on holidays, trucks tail-gate us at 120Kph, and scare the hell out of me.>>

.

Young parents and toddler die in fiery crash:

<<The solution is simple. make speed limit for trucks 70kmh max and must not move out of left lane for whatever reason. the F3 is the most dangerous freeway I have ever driven on, doing 100-110 on blind hills and bends a truck has no way of stopping fast if it has to.>>

.

David:

<<I drive the F3 every day and it is a miracle that more accidents such as these do no occur. In peak hour the average speed of vehicles is in excess of speed limit and cars do this with the knowledge that they are highly unlikely to be caught. When police do drive along the freeway they also average around 10 kph above the speed limit and cars just happily follow them at that speed.

In the road works area you have speed variances of between 80 kph (speed limit) and 120 kph with average of around 100 kph. To sit on the speed limit along that road is nearly more dangerous than speeding.  This is a tragedy as are all road deaths and one can only hope that this does force the authorities into action so that something positive comes from it to get some sanity back into the way drivers behave on this road.>>

.

mirage:

<<I’m sure its another example of a truck driver that was speeding – I travel every few weeks up and down the F3 in a normal sedan at 100-110km per hour and most trucks fly past me except when going up the hills…the Police are not doing enough and some truck drivers just think they can do what they want…same attitude problem as the ferry drivers on the harbour and bus drivers…they think the road is theirs and they are smarter than the rest, professional drivers…they should know that in the end the extra speed doesnt make much difference…>>

.

More Trains, Less Trucks:

<<One partial solution would be to build a freight line so that we could send more goods by rail. Think about howmany trucks would be off the road for each extra train.   I am sure that the truckies would complain about potential loss of jobs, but that wasn’t the case when the Ghan was extended from Alice Springs to Darwin.

Instead of losing jobs, the truckies found that they had more short haul jobs supplying the freight trains and less long haul jobs with all of the associated safety issues.>>

.

Kate:  

<<I used to drive the F3 regularly but now catch the train as it is too dangerous. If you look at the accident record over the past few years, you will see most involve trucks. The F3 is one of the few decent roads in the state, yet now ruined by huge speeding semis and other trucks that are a terrible hazard to cars. On top of that everyone speeds like the devil, with impunity it seems. All those massive tonnes of heavy goods in transit should be shipped by rail. The whole transport thing is getting completely out of hand.>>

.

frederick:

<<I am often horrified at the increase in trucks on our roads and the frequent aggressive driving adopted by these drivers. Driving generally on our roads has become so bad that this sort of horror is going to keep happening. Anyone who drives at or near the speed limit would know. Unless of course our pollies have the guts to do something about it and the Police start to enforce some of the existing road rules. With three warning signs before every fixed speed camera we might as well adopt a new slogan for NSW – THE DUMB STATE! 

How many more lives is it going to take before we come to our senses?>>

.

Ian C. Purdie:

<<Yes, so trucks are speed limited to 100 kph, the sign on the back says so. That would be the reason they either tail gate you at 110 kph or overtake.>>

.

waqi13:

<<I travel on F3 several times each week for work. At least once a week I have a close call with truck drivers not paying attention to what is going on around them. It seems that 90% of trucks have blinkers and side mirrors that don’t work – they change lanes at the drop of a hat with no indication, and in the worst case scenario to overtake another truck that they cannot go fasther than anyway – creating a long line of traffic, chugging up a hill at much less then the speed limit.

I have learnt to give trucks a wide berth, because they will do what they want to do without checking for any cars around them.>>

.

Daniel:

<<It’s a dangerous road at night and drivers need to have full concentration on the freeway. they need to stick to the speed limit. Ive driven on it so many times and I do 110 and others are flying past me all the time. Trucks are going faster than the 100 they are supposed to be doing. Most of the time now I use the old Pacific Highway through to Gosford. its just too dangerous with all the rats on the road.>>

.

JSKS:

<<It’s very sad indeed. In fact 110km/hr is a very fast speed for a fully loaded truck. It’s not easy for the truck to stop that easily when their loads are full. At 10.30pm, the truck light shining distance is at best 30 meters. I believed by the time the driver realised that there is a car in front, it’s too late to stop effectively. In other countries, while the Freeway limit is 110km/hr, the maximum speed limit for truck is only 90km/hr. Yes, this will delay delivery time but I think HUMAN LIFE is more important than delivery time.>

.

SP233K:

<<I drive on the F3 every day, and seriously no one obeys speed limits,they tailgate,they speed like crazy,the have no regard for anyone else,trucks speed and change lanes cutting people off and don’t care at all.  Every day i worry i will end up in an accident and as soon as it gets dark trucks drive about a thousand times worse,they would have no way of stopping quickly. 

Police constantly pull over cars (in the event there are actually police patrolling which is not very often).  I really think they should be pulling over trucks as well.  I hope this is a warning to everyone to be more careful on the F3, surely there have been enough horrific accidents for everyone to see how dangerous it is. 

My heart goes out to the families of the people involved in last night’s accident.  I drove past this morning and it really was a horrible scene.>>

.

[Sources:  ‘Surviving driver may hold F3 horror key to why young family stopped on freeway’, 20090829, by Rhys Haynes, Justin Vallejo, The Daily Telegraph, ^http://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/news/surviving-driver-may-hold-f3-horror-key-to-why-young-family-stopped-on-freeway/story-e6freuy9-1225767218559: and ‘Young parents and baby die in F3 inferno’, 20090828, Sydney Morning Herald, ^http://www.smh.com.au/national/young-parents-and-baby-die-in-f3-inferno-20090828-f1fe.html]

.

May 2009:  ‘B-double involved in F3 collision with car’

.

<<There has been yet another traffic accident on the F3 involving a B-double truck, overnight.   About 10.40pm last night (Tuesday), the driver of the B-double truck, a 38-year-old man from Cundletown, allegedly changed lanes and ran straight into a car being driven by a 63-year-old man from Umina.  Both vehicles were travelling north along the freeway at Wahroonga, near Alexandria Pde.

When the car was hit, it spun out of control, police said, and collided with the median guardrail.  The driver of the car was trapped until emergency crews cut him from the wreckage.

He was taken to the Royal North Shore Hospital with suspected back injuries and remains in a serious but stable condition.  Hornsby Police have told the Advocate they will wait on the results of blood test before taking any action.  No charges have yet been laid.>>

.

[Source:  ‘B-double involved in F3 collision with car’, 20090527, Hornsby Advocate, ^http://hornsby-advocate.whereilive.com.au/news/story/another-b-double-involved-in-f3-collision-with-car/]

.

Apr 2009:  ‘F3 truck ‘cut off’ before cliff plunge’

.

<<Police are searching for the driver of a white Kenworth truck seen close to a semitrailer that plunged 80 metres off the F3, north of Sydney yesterday.  Emergency services workers have recovered the body of the 40-year-old driver. The driver is reported to have been married with a young child.

The semitrailer will be salvaged by crane from 8pm today, with northbound traffic to be diverted from the F3 at Wahroonga.  The B-Double Linfox semitrailer was carrying toilet paper when it crashed through a safety barrier at the side of the freeway and fell into the valley near Hornsby about 11.35am yesterday.

Two northbound lanes of the F3 were closed and traffic was diverted after the crash.  Police are investigating reports the Sydney man had swerved to miss another truck which had changed lanes in front of him, before his vehicle speared off the road.  Police today appealed for the driver of the Kenworth truck to come forward.

“We are appealing for the driver of a white Kenworth that was close to the [semitrailer] at the time of the crash to contact police through the Crime Stoppers hotline and tell us what they know or what they might have seen at the time the truck went over the railing,” a NSW Police spokeswoman said.

Senior Sergeant Peter Jenkins of the Metropolitan Crash Investigation Unit said witnesses told police there were some trucks near the semitrailer before the crash happened.

“It would apply at this stage that they might not have contributed to the crash. They might be totally innocent people driving along. But we would like to interview them because they may know something about the reason why this gentleman has left the roadway,” he said.  “So we are appealing to them as witnesses at this stage.”

Senior Sergeant Jenkins said it was raining quite heavily when the accident occurred and police would be investigating all the possible accident factors, including weather, road surface, traffic, mechancial issues and the driver’s schedule.

But Phil Easterbrook, who lives near where the accident happened and heard a bang, said the accident was not unexpected.  “We always hear the sound of horns going off and of braking. They are [hooting] to avert an accident because people are cutting them off,” he said.  “We hear banging quite regularly from vehicles from accidents happening.”

Mr Easterbrook, who used to drive a truck, said trucks would try to build up speed as they went up the hill, and so would not like other vehicles cutting them off.

.

ROAD SURFACE HAZARD

Paul Gerrard, who uses the F3 daily to travel from Kellyville to his work in Tuggerah and back, said the road surface where the accident occurred had been a serious hazard for a few months.

“Approximately four to five months ago the original freeway road surface [bitumen] was removed by mechanical pavement machines in an overnight operation that went for several weeks,” he said.  “In the absence of signs it appears the pavement was removed to enable the whole freeway to be resurfaced with bitumen after the widening project [of the freeway] is completed.

Mr Gerrard said the northbound lanes, which were resurfaced, now had a rough texture and were dangerous to drive on especially during heavy rain.  “The road gets far too much water and there’s no control. My experience is that, during heavy rain, drivers must slow to approximately 70kmh or the car aquaplanes left. It is an expectation and not random.”

He said the rails along these lanes were dented from large impacts of vehicles hitting them.

An RTA spokesman said that, while it could not comment on the accident as it was the subject of a police investigation, concrete roads such as the ones on the F3 were not uncommon in NSW.

“The RTA regularly carries out tests on road surface across the state and this section of road was last tested in August and September of last year. These tests showed that the road surface provided adequate wet-weather grip,” the spokesman said.  The RTA spokesman said it understood the accident took place “on a downhill section where surface water would not accumulate”, and advised motorists to slow down and adjust their driving when there was wet weather.

From 2003 to 2007, there were six crashes reported on the 1km northbound section of of the F3 just north of the Edgeworth David Avenue overpass at Wahroonga, the spokesman said.

None of the crashes involved heavy vehicles and there were no deaths, he said.

.

CRANE FAILED TO MOVE SEMI-TRAILER

A crane was brought in to lift the semitrailer, but a 7?-hour operation from 4.30pm to midnight by emergency services failed to move it.

“The boom on it to go down to the truck was not long enough,” an RTA spokeswoman said.  A larger 400-tonne crane would be brought in to lift the truck tonight, the spokeswoman said.

It was not yet decided which company would be supplying the crane, although it was likely Linfox would foot the bill, she said.

The RTA said the crane would take three to four hours to assemble, and the same time to disassemble. It said it would take four hours to move the truck.  The RTA will close access to the F3 northbound from the Pacific Highway and Pennant Hills Road at Wahroonga during the salvage operation.

Traffic would rejoin the F3 at Berowa. Diversions were expected to be in place until 8am tomorrow, the RTA said. Southbound lanes would not be affected.  Yesterday’s fears that the fuel spilt from the truck would cause environmental damage have also dissipated, NSW Fire Brigades spokesman Craig Brierley said.

The diesel from the truck spread over a large area and sank into the soil beneath the truck, but did not reach the water catchment area nearby, Mr Brierley said.  The low amount of fuel in the tank and its cargo meant there were fewer fears about its impact on the environment, he said.  “There was only 500 litres of diesel on the truck, which is not a lot, so that made the job a lot easier,” Mr Brierley said.   Hazmat crews were at the site of the crash for most of yesterday night and would check the area again when the truck was removed, he said.

.

[Ed:  Was the RTA recklessly culpable for the driver’s death?]

.

FUND ESTABLISHED TO HELP FAMILYT OF DEAD TRUCKIE

The young family of the driver will be the recipients of a fund established by transport union officials.

“The man who died yesterday had a young family and what happened can only be described as a tragedy,” Transport Workers’ Union NSW secretary Wayne Forno said today.  “The TWU is calling on all members to donate to a fund we are setting up for the man’s family, and Linfox has indicated they will match those donations.  “But we are also calling for a full investigation into the incident, and for the coroner to examine how hyper-competitive road freight industry and the inadequate pay and conditions of truck drivers are contributing to more deaths on the road.”

A Linfox spokesman said the company did not comment on donations, but “conditionally we would match what colleagues contribute”.>>

.

[Source:  ‘F3 truck ‘cut off’ before cliff plunge’, Sydney Morning Herald, 20090422, by Glenda Kwek, AAP, ^http://www.smh.com.au/national/f3-truck-cut-off-before-cliff-plunge-20090422-aeal.html]

.

.

Oct 2008:  ‘Truck catches fire on F3’

.

<<There has heavy traffic on the F3 freeway north of Sydney after a truck caught on fire just before 11:00am AEDT today.   The accident blocked all northbound lanes at Mount White, but traffic is now moving slowly after a lane was reopened.   It is not yet known what caused the blaze.

Kate Martin was driving on the freeway when the accident happened.  “It was on fire, really badly on fire, black smoke just streaming out of the truck,” she said.  “It took a while for the police to arrive. It was burning for about 10 minutes before any services arrived.”>>

.

[Source:  ‘Truck catches fire on F3’,  20081009, ABC News, ^http://www.abc.net.au/news/2008-10-09/truck-catches-fire-on-f3/536316]

.

Nov 2007:  ‘Drivers urged to delay after F3 smash’

.

<<Commuters on the New South Wales Central Coast are being urged to delay their drive to Sydney after a crash involving a semi-trailer and several cars on the F3 freeway, near Mount White.

The Ambulance Service says two women and a teenage girl are in a stable condition in hospital after the accident.  Roads and Traffic Authority spokesman Alec Brown says all three southbound lanes are blocked and traffic is backed up for three kilometres.

Mr Brown says it is not known how long it will take to clear the accident.  “It’s impossible to predict. It really does depend on how smoothly it goes,” he said.  “We’ve removed one truck already. We’re working on the rest of the vehicles and that’s something we’re doing as a priority.”

Traffic is being diverted onto the Old Pacific Highway.>>

.

[Source:  ‘Drivers urged to delay after F3 smash’, 20071109, ABC News, ^http://www.abc.net.au/news/2007-11-09/drivers-urged-to-delay-after-f3-smash/720460]

.

Motorway Widening Cancer

Road Widening is a Chicken and Egg causality dilemma

– widen it and they shall come and then congest it, so widen it again…

.

<<It doesn’t matter who’s right in this situation. The bigger problem has been the failure of the Australian government for setting unrealistic freight rail goals for Port Botany.

After setting a goal of shipping 40 percent of all Port Botany cargo by rail, the Australian government has dropped its target to 28 percent

“’Forty per cent was unrealistic and unachievable and typified Labor’s propensity to pluck figures out of the air,” the Transport Minister, Gladys Berejiklian, told the Sydney Morning Herald.

The increased number of trucks on the road is already causing considerable delays for motorists. Last Friday, one semi-trailer jack-knifed across one highway, according to the Herald, causing a traffic jam roughly 5 miles long.>>

.

[Source:  ‘Sydney traffic worsens as freight forwarding climbs’, 20111128, by Kevin Scarpati, Supply Chain Digital, ^http://www.supplychaindigital.com/global_logistics/sydney-traffic-worsens-as-freight-forwarding-climbs]

RMS policy:      More trucking expressways > bigger faster trucks > more carnage

 

Mar 2012:  ‘Driver fined after allegedly driving b-double truck 30kmh over the speed limit – Mittagong’

[Source: ^http://www.police.nsw.gov.au  (media release) ]

.

‘A man has been fined after being stopped by police for allegedly speeding in the state’s Southern Highlands.

About 5.44am yesterday (Monday 5 March 2012), police were patrolling the (6-laned) Hume Highway at Mittagong, when they allegedly detected a white B-double (truck) travelling at a speed of 142kph in an 110kmh zone.  They stopped the vehicle a short distance away and issued the 41-year-old male driver with a traffic infringement for exceed speed over 30km/h.

The fine for the offence is $1112.

[Ed:  A poultry slap on the wrist fine?   When 60+ tonnes is hurtling along the road at 142kph, how is this not attempted murder?]

Killer on the Road

.

Mar 2012:  ‘Fatal head-on in NSW’   (south of Oberon)

[Source:  ‘Fatal head-on in NSW’, bigpondnews, Saturday, March 31, 2012, ^http://bigpondnews.com/articles/National/2012/03/31/Fatal_head-on_in_NSW_734843.html]

‘A truck driver has been killed, and three men have been airlifted to hospital, after two trucks collided head-on near Oberon, west of Sydney.

Police say the Isuzu table top truck and Mack prime mover logging truck crashed on Abercrombie Road, at Black Springs just before midnight (AEDT).

The Isuzu driver, aged in his 30s, died at the scene.  Two other men inside suffered head and chest injuries, while the driver of the other truck, aged in his 60s, has an injury to his leg.   Abercrombie Road is expected to remain closed until around 7am (AEDT).’

Typical prime mover logging truck (empty)

.

Jul 2009:  Recall the fatal truck crash east of Oberon three years ago…

[Source: ‘Man killed in truck crash‘, by Brendan Arrow, Western Advocate, 20090708, ^http://www.westernadvocate.com.au/news/local/news/general/man-killed-in-truck-crash/1561790.aspx]

.

‘One man died and another was airlifted to a Sydney hospital after a car and truck crashed head-on near Oberon yesterday afternoon.

Emergency services received reports about 1.12pm of a car hitting a truck on the Duckmaloi Road near Fearndale Road on the Sydney side of Oberon.  Ambulance officers arrived and began treating the men involved in the accident. The passenger of the car was declared dead at the scene.

The 20-year-old male driver of the car was airlifted to Westmead Hospital with multiple fractures to his legs, arms and chest as well as head injuries.  The truck driver was assessed by ambulance officers and did not require hospitalisation.  Late last night the Duckmaloi Road was still close to non-residential traffic as spilt fuel and debris was cleaned from the site.

An Oberon trucker driver, who wished to remain anonymous, later said the Duckmaloi Road needed to be seriously looked at due to the large amount of traffic it carried.

“Along with the Bathurst road it is one of the two main veins into Oberon,” he said.  “I believe around 200 trucks a day would use that road to get from Oberon to Sydney and back again.”

The truck driver added that for people who did not frequently use the Duckmaloi Road it could be very dangerous.  “It can be bloody treacherous if you don’t know it,” he said.

“In one day I think we send about 50 trucks out and have 50 trucks come back in on it [the Duckmaloi Road].  “If you also add in the log trucks and the chip trucks than you would easily have 200 trucks a day on that road.”

[Ed:  Two years later, $395,000 from the Australia Government went into widening the Duckmaloi Road.  ^Read More]

.

Fatal truck head-on near Oberon, NSW (2009)

.

2012:  Great Western Highway – Wentworth Falls East ‘trucking upgrade’

No 1 Feature:   “Widening the highway to four lanes with sealed shoulders“!

No 1 Benefit:    “Quicker journeys –  in the region and to Sydney“!

Great Western Highway being widened to a faster 4-lane trucking expressway
[Source:  RMS, ^http://www.rta.nsw.gov.au/roadprojects/projects/great_western_hway/ww_falls/index.html]

.

Mar 2012:  ‘Delays at Marulan after truck crash’

[Source: ‘Delays at Marulan after truck crash‘, 20120327, ^http://www.fullyloaded.com.au/industry-news/articleid/78790.aspx]

Four laned Hume Highway built for faster, bigger trucks – not safer.

.

‘Delays are expected today on a section of the Hume Highway in NSW after a crash involving two trucks near Marulan.  NSW Police says a B-double carrying furniture rolled about 5km south of Marulan at 12.45am, spilling its load and blocking all northbound lanes. A semi-trailer travelling behind crashed into the rear of the truck…’

.

Jul 2011:  Near the same spot a year before..’Fatal crash near Marulan’

[Source: ‘Fatal crash near Marulan’, by David Butler and NSW Police Media, 20110729, ^http://www.goulburnpost.com.au/news/local/news/general/fatal-crash-near-marulan/2242199.aspx]

Star Express B-Double crashed solo into this gully just after midnight

The driver’s dead – fell asleep or heart attack at the wheel?

.

‘A report will be prepared for the coroner following a fatal highway crash near Marulan in the early hours of the morning.

About 12.45am this morning a B-double truck travelling north on the Hume Highway left the road and plunged into a deep roadside gully, rolling on to its side and taking out trees and a 10-meter section of guard rail in the process.  The cause of the crash is still unknown and police investigations are continuing. No one else was injured in the crash.

The driver, a 47-year-old man from Glenfield, suffered severe injuries and died at the scene. He was travelling from Albury to Sydney when the accident occurred approximately 15km north of Goulburn.

[Ed:  All night 60+ tonne all night bats out of hell and 60+ tonne all night zombies being driven to death by greedy retailers demanding pre-dawn delivery times.  Overnight linehaul is al about unnatural sleep depravation.  It is death waiting to happen.  Driving on Australian highways aafter midnight has become Russian Roulette death wish to all road users.  Meanwhile,  Australian Truckers Association chairman David Simon says the government should also be encouraging more “AB-triples” — which are 51m long — and “BAB-quads”, which are two connected B-doubles.”  [Read More]

Why have railway tracks, when trucking companies keep adding carriages and ring feeders?

.

Mar 2012:    B-Double truckers tampering with speed governors

[Source:  ‘Police blitz on trucks widens’, by AAP, 20120307, ^http://www.weeklytimesnow.com.au/article/2012/03/07/453455_machine.html]

“Faster, faster..you’re a good operator!”

.

‘New South Wales police have seized two South Australian trucks as part of a crackdown on unsafe practices in the road transport industry.  Officers in NSW had intercepted 13 trucks from Scott’s Transport Industries as of today in a nationwide blitz on the Mt Gambier-based firm, which operates a fleet of 322 trucks and is suspected of serious safety breaches.

NSW police launched Operation Overland after one of the company’s B-doubles was detected travelling at 142kph on Monday.

An analysis of the company’s trucks’ movements has shown speeding by 32 of them.

Superintendent Stuart Smith said the two trucks were stopped after being identified as having defects, but it was too early to say if the defects were the result of tampering.

He said more of the company’s vehicles would be targeted for interception and comprehensive mechanical inspections.

“It’s not the 300, but it’s a large number,” Superintendent Smith said.  “There’s a large number to go and the operation will continue for a number of days.”

Further actions by NSW Roads and Maritime Services will likely lead to a prosecution and significant fines.

Premier Barry O’Farrell said transport companies had been warned checks would become more regular. “Trucking companies should understand that what was then unprecedented action would become more regular if we had suspicions that there were cowboys driving trucks across the state’s roads, that it was likely to cause safety concerns for motorists,” Mr O’Farrell told reporters in Sydney.

Police have said an investigation of Lennons Transport Services, based in Sydney’s inner west, found eight trucks had been tampered with, including seven that had been modified to exceed the maximum speed of 100km/h.  They have also charged a Lennons’ driver with dangerous driving causing the deaths of three members of one family on January 24.

Calvyn Logan, 59, and his elderly parents Donald and Patricia Logan, in their 80s, were killed when a Lennons‘ B-double truck careered onto the wrong side of the Hume Highway, near Menangle in southwest Sydney.

B-double truck driver Vincent Samuel George (33) killed three members of one family with his B-Double.

Court records also revealed that between 1998 and last year, George had his licence suspended five times and he has been convicted of 17 offences, including speeding and drink driving.

[^http://www.truckinlife.com.au/articles/2012/truck-collision-menangle-bridge]

.

Police allege the driver’s truck had been tampered with to make it go faster.

.

The RMS has also filed a series of summons in the NSW Supreme Court relating to driver fatigue at South Penrith Sand and Soil.

RMS alleges a series of offences relating to drivers’ work hours, rest hours and fatigue management. A cyclist was killed and three were injured after a truck driver working for the company veered into a breakdown lane and hit them on the M4 motorway on April 10, 2010.

The driver pleaded guilty last week to manslaughter.

Sydney’s M4:   this is supposedly an RMS cycle lane

.

Recall, RMS  ‘upgrade features‘ at its Great Western Highway Wentworth Falls East section include:

“Improved cyclist access and safety – access for commuter and long distance cyclists will be provided by a 2.5 metre shoulder between Nelson and Dalrymple avenues.”

[Source:  ^http://www.rta.nsw.gov.au/roadprojects/projects/great_western_hway/ww_falls/features_benefits.html]

.

Try riding a bicycle through the Leura section, just up the Great Western Highway from Wentworth Falls

Spot the cycle lane…Russian Roulette anyone?

.

Great Western Highway – being transformed into a trucking expressway

so that bigger and more trucks can travel faster, all night long.

.

Trucking Expressways are the antithesis of road safety

.

.

Mar 2012:   ‘Twelve more trucks had speeds tampered’

[Source: ‘Twelve more trucks had speeds tampered‘, SkyNews, 20120310, ^http://www.skynews.com.au/local/article.aspx?id=727226&vId=]

.

Another 12 trucks have been discovered with tampered speed limiters during a two-state police probe into dodgy practices (Ed: read ‘criminally culpable‘) in the industry.

Police inspecting Lennons Transport Services B-Double truck

.

‘Operation Overland’

Operation Overland was launched into Scott’s Transport Industries on Monday.  Ninety-eight of the South Australian transport company’s fleet of 322 heavy vehicles have since been intercepted for mechanical inspection.

On Thursday, police said they had found six trucks with tampered speed limiters.  A day later, 12 more had been discovered, taking the total to 18.

Overall, 71 offences have been identified, including two trucks found to be overloaded.

Almost 70 defect notices have been issued.   The probe into Scott’s Transport Industries began after one of its drivers was clocked travelling at 142km/h on the Hume Highway at Mittagong about 5.45am (AEDT) on Monday.

.

Earlier this year, police swooped on Lennons Transport Services, in Sydney’s inner-west, where they discovered eight tampered trucks, including seven modified to exceed the 100km/h maximum.

Police Blitz at Lennons Transport Services

.

It came after a Lennons driver was charged with dangerous driving causing the deaths of Calvyn Logan, 59, and his elderly parents Donald and Patricia Logan, in their 80s.

The truckie’s B-double allegedly careered onto the wrong side of the Hume Highway near Menangle and crashed into the trio’s car.

.

Feb 2011:  ‘Man dies after trucks collide on Hume Freeway, Baddaginnie’

[Source:  ‘Man dies after trucks collide on Hume Freeway, Baddaginnie‘, by Jessica Craven, Herald Sun, February 15, 20110215,  ^http://www.heraldsun.com.au/news/more-news/man-dies-after-trucks-collide-on-hume-freeway-baddaginnie/story-e6frf7kx-1226006057102]

.

Six-laned Hume Freeway – the wider and faster the expressway…

All night trucking zombies

[Photo: Jon Hargest, Herald Sun]

.

‘A man has died following a collision between two trucks on the Hume Freeway in Baddaginnie (Ed: Victoria, just south of the NSW border) just after midnight.

It’s believed one driver lost control of his truck which rolled onto the freeway moments before a second truck collided with it at 12.08am.

The driver of the second truck died and police are investigating the cause of the collision.  The identity of the dead man is yet to be established.

The Hume Freeway is closed northbound at Violet Town and diversions are in place.’

.

Comments:

Patrick of Rooney (20110215):

“Wake up and sip the coffee Victoria! We need thousands more speed cameras out there!”

.

Andrew of Flemington (20110215):

“Worksafe Victoria, where are you?? Another tragic death caused by unsafe work practices. How many more deaths and injuries must occur before you finally step in?

.

Feb 2011:   ‘Logging truck driver kills car driver stopped at traffic lights outside Bathurst’

[Source:  ‘One killed in truck crash‘, by Jo Johnson, Western Advocate, 20110201, ^http://www.westernadvocate.com.au/news/local/news/general/one-killed-in-truck-crash/2062626.aspx]

Media news often doesn’t travel outside one’s local area,

so other Australians don’t realise the extent of the trucking carnage being inflicted across the country.

.

Who says truck drivers are ‘professionals’?

.

‘A 59-year-old local man is dead and two others seriously injured after a truck ploughed into three cars stopped at roadworks traffic lights on the O’Connell Road yesterday.  The tragedy occurred at lunchtime, about 15 kilometres south of Bathurst.

Emergency services rushed to the scene to find people trapped in their cars.  The road was immediately closed to traffic in both directions.  Initial investigations have revealed that an unladen logging truck struck the vehicles, which were all making their way towards Bathurst at the time.

Police, ambulance and fire and rescue crews were called to the crash site at about 12.30pm.  An air ambulance helicopter landed on the road near the accident to provide additional assistance.

Bathurst police Inspector Ross Wilkinson confirmed the driver of a red Toyota Camry died at the scene. He was a 59-year-old male from the O’Connell region.

The logging truck was travelling north when it slammed into the rear of the Toyota Camry, killing the man and seriously injuring a female passenger.

The driver of the next car in line, a silver Mazda Astina, was also in a serious condition yesterday afternoon, while the driver of a bronze Holden Rodeo was taken to Bathurst Base Hospital for observation.

Inspector Wilkinson said Chifley Local Area Command’s crash investigation unit attended the scene and investigations into the fatality would continue.  The driver of the logging truck was uninjured and is helping police with their inquiries.

Traffic was diverted via Brewongle and The Lagoon and drivers heading to Oberon from Bathurst late yesterday afternoon were advised to divert at Hartley via Jenolan Caves Road.

The roadworks were being carried out by the NSW Roads and Traffic Authority (Ed: recently rebranded ‘RMS’) , between the Wests Lane turn-off to Brewongle and Ridge Road.

.

Feb 2010:  ‘Speeding B-Double Blayney Cattle Truck Rolls Over – kills/maims 21 cattle’

[Source: ‘Speeding B-Double Blayney Cattle Truck Accident 2-6-2010‘, by Clare Colley,  20100603, ^http://www.canobolas.rfs.nsw.gov.au/dsp_content.cfm?cat_id=131092]

Injured cattle shot after speeding cattle truck overturned on bend near Blayney (Central NSW)

.

Traffic between Blayney and Bathurst was detoured through Millthorpe yesterday after a semi-trailer cattle truck overturned while negotiating a sharp left bend about three kilometres out of Blayney.

Drivers on the Mid Western Highway had to slow to avoid runaway cattle after the accident on the outskirts of Blayney shortly after 11am.

Inspector Ross Wilkinson from Chifley Area Command said that police were continuing their investigations into the cause of the accident that disrupted highway traffic for four hours and killed 21 of the 96 cattle on board the truck.

“Police will issue an infringement notice to the truck driver at a later stage,” he said.  “It’s a timely reminder for drivers to take care when driving in the changing weather conditions.”   [Ed:  Yet another dangerous coyboy truckie gets but a slap on the wrist.  The driver deserves a custodial sentence for recklessly causing pain and suffering to the cattle, and barred from cattle truck driving for life].

.

The road between Bathurst and Blayney was closed for 30 minutes while cranes were brought in to lift the truck back onto the road.  RTA workers, who were among the first at the accident scene, began directing traffic and slowing motorists down to avoid the cattle before police arrived.

“We’ve been trying to keep things flowing,” one RTA worker said.  “A couple of steers got away but they’ve pretty well got them under control.”

Blayney Shire Council overseer, Paul Wade, said that Blayney Shire Council staff were working with the RTA to divert Bathurst bound traffic through Millthorpe.  Mr Wade said that council staff worked with the emergency services and the truck’s driver to help control the traffic and move the surviving cattle into a nearby paddock. The council’s ranger euthanized a number of cattle at the scene…

Yesterday’s accident is the second time a semi-trailer has overturned on the same winding stretch of road on the outskirts of Blayney in recent months.  On January 28 traffic on the highway was disrupted for four hours when a semi-trailer travelling towards Blayney overturned while negotiating a left bend near yesterday’s accident scene.

 

Play Video (Prime News):

Click image to play video

(when running, double click on video to enlarge)

NB.  The Rural Fire Service at Canobolas have since deleted the above video, so here is one from Channel 9:

.

Oct 2010:   ‘Truckie’s death adds to road toll’

[Source:  ‘Truckie’s death adds to road toll’, by Dominic Zietsch, Daily Examiner, 20101004, ^http://www.dailyexaminer.com.au/story/2010/10/04/truckies-death-horrific-road-toll/]

 

All night truck driving solo – another dead truck driver

The driver of this B-Double was killed when it hit an embankment on the Pacific Highway near Corindi (Ed: north of Coffs Harbour) on Friday night

[Photo by Frank Reward]

.

A man was killed in an horrific crash near Dirty Creek, west of Corindi, on Friday night in what is amounting to a horror weekend on NSW roads.

A B-Double being driven by the 48-year-old man, from Queensland, had been travelling south on the Pacific Highway when it appears to have left the road and crashed into an embankment.

According to a police statement, police and emergency services were called to the crash just after 11pm where the driver, the sole occupant of the truck, had suffered serious injuries and died at the scene.  According to the statement, the impact of the crash had detached the two trailers from the prime mover, but no further details were available last night…

This crash adds another death to the mounting NSW road toll with the number rising to eight since the start of the long weekend, five more than for the same long weekend last year.

.

Mar 2007:  Hume Highway again.. ‘head-on truck crash kills driver’

[Source:  ‘Head-on truck crash kills driver‘, Sydney Morning Herald, 20070316, ^http://www.smh.com.au/news/national/headon-truck-crash-kills-driver/2007/03/16/1173722699803.html]

B-Double Head On – after driving all night?

.

A fatal truck crash has closed the Hume Highway near Coolac, in southern NSW.  Two trucks collided head-on on the highway, sparking fires in both cabs, about 6.15am (AEDT) today, police said.   The driver of a semi-trailer, carrying groceries north on the highway, died at the scene after rescue efforts failed to save him.  The driver of a southbound truck, carrying metal, escaped with minor injuries…

.

Ed:  The Truck Menace is blatantly out of control.  ‘Industry self-regulation’ never works and is nothing but a costing cutting government cop out.  Meanwhile Australian Liberal Labor governments continue to pour billions of taxpayers’s money into building bigger and faster dedicated trucking expressways.  And so the trucks get bigger and faster and Australia’s highway carnage of families continues unabated…

.

Watch video:

(includes sound)

.

.

.

Postcript:

.

Well we didn’t have to wait bloody long.   The day after posting this article there was another B-double multiple fatality…dead driver, dead and maimed cattle under his care…

.

Speeding truckie hooning a fully laden B-Double cattle truck, loses it on bend – kills himself and the cattle

Carnage at Tangaratta Creek yesterday

.

[Source:  ‘Truckie killed: B-double rolls near Tamworth‘, by Haley Sheridan, Northern Daily Leader newspaper, 20120403, ^http://www.northerndailyleader.com.au/news/local/news/general/truckie-killed-bdouble-rolls-near-tamworth/2509357.aspx]

.

‘A salvage operation continued into last night to remove a laden cattle truck that crashed into the Tangaratta Creek Bridge near Tamworth yesterday, claiming the life of the driver.

Oxley Highway was closed for hours as emergency crews worked at the scene, first freeing the driver’s body from the truck’s cabin, which had been crushed against the bridge pylons, and then removing dead cattle and the truck from the scene.

An unknown number of cattle were killed or injured and diesel fuel from a ruptured fuel tank leaked into the creek. [‘”65 head of cattle ‘..according to SkyNews ^http://www.skynews.com.au/topstories/article.aspx?id=735717&vId=]

The B-double truck left the road and rolled at the bridge on the Oxley Highway, about 10km west of the city, about 3pm.  Police believe the truck was travelling south, bound for Cargill abattoir at Tamworth, when it lost control on a sweeping bend that has been the scene of  other serious accidents over the years.  [Sky News:  Police said the vehicle failed to negotiate a right-hand bend near Tangaratta Bridge, causing it to roll down an embankment.]

An off-duty police officer was first on the scene.

.

Police officers euthanased distressed cattle that had been crushed or injured in the trailers, which rested on their sides near the creek.

.

Oxley Local Area Command duty officer, Inspector Jeff Budd, said the recovery effort was expected to continue late into last night.  He said firefighters had set up booms to contain the diesel spill in the creek.

…Yesterday’s fatal crash happened at the same bridge where a horrific bus accident occurred on January 5, 1992, claiming the lives of five people.   A double-decker Pioneer bus en route from Brisbane to Melbourne slammed into the bridge on a Saturday night.  The crash claimed the lives of an eight-year-old girl, as well as three women and a man.

Inspector Budd said police were continuing their investigations into the cause of yesterday’s crash and a report would be prepared for the coroner.’

.

Meanwhile pig carcasses have been scattered over a motorway in Sydney’s southwest after two trucks collided early today.  Police say the heavy vehicles crashed shortly after 2am on the M7 westlink motorway at Prestons, near the Bernera Road off-ramp.  The truck carrying the pig carcasses rolled, throwing the meat all over the road.

Pig carcasses picked up off M7

http://www.skynews.com.au/national/article.aspx?id=735802&vId=

.

[Source:   ‘Driver, dozens of cows die in truck crash‘, 20120403, ^http://www.smh.com.au/nsw/driver-dozens-of-cows-die-in-truck-crash-20120403-1w9ba.html]

.