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) ]

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‘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

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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)

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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]

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‘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]

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

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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]

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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.

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‘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…’

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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?

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‘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?

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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!”

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‘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]

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

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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

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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]

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

Spot the cycle lane…Russian Roulette anyone?

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Great Western Highway – being transformed into a trucking expressway

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

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Trucking Expressways are the antithesis of road safety

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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=]

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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

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‘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.

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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

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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.

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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]

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

All night trucking zombies

[Photo: Jon Hargest, Herald Sun]

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‘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.’

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Comments:

Patrick of Rooney (20110215):

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

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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?

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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.

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Who says truck drivers are ‘professionals’?

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‘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.

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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)

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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].

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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:

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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]

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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.

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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?

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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…

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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…

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Watch video:

(includes sound)

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Postcript:

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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…

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

Carnage at Tangaratta Creek yesterday

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[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]

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‘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.

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

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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.’

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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=

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[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]

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