10 Tonne Truck Causes Major Crash in Sydney
It hasn’t been a good week for road safety with a number of crashes involving heavy vehicles having taken place across the nation.
One of the major accidents involved a 10 tonne truck took place on Sydney’s Northern Beaches on Tuesday morning.
The truck veered onto the wrong side of the road into oncoming traffic and smashed into nine cars as it made its way through the major intersection.
Police said that people involved in the crash were incredibly lucky to be alive. Six people were injured and rushed to hospital with non-life-threatening injuries.
Northern Beaches Superintendent Dave Darcy said in an article on Yahoo.com
“In my 30 years of service, I have never felt so lucky as today,”.
Source: https://au.news.yahoo.com
The Pantech truck which caused the crash was carrying flour and other food. The driver apparently lost control at Dee Why on Sydney’s northern beaches. Apparently the truck veered onto the wrong side of Pittwater Road before tipping over. The truck ploughed through traffic and crushed at least one car in its way.
The truck crashed into several cars while they were waiting in traffic. An article on the Yahoo News site detailed the accident, which one labourer Dylan Fisher witnessed while at the red light. The man saw the truck flip and hit the cars in front of him. The article went on to state:
“He was going way too fast. It must have been like 80km/h or so,” he said.
“As soon as he took the corner, it just flipped over and he took out all the cars.”
Source: https://au.news.yahoo.com
The heavy vehicle apparently lost control while descending Warringah Road. The road is notoriously steep and has a 20km/h speed limit for trucks for this reason.
According to police the truck was leaking diesel fuel after the accident.
One person involved in the crash, Mr Fisher had suffered no major injuries but did sustain minor back injury. He was quoted as saying:
“My life flashed before my eyes. It was shocking. (A) very intense situation,” he told AAP.
Source: https://au.news.yahoo.com
There was a car stuck underneath the truck with 2 people inside, including a young woman which emergency services personnel worked for almost an hour to free. They eventually had to cut off the roof of the truck to free the woman and her partner.
Explaining that people were trapped in the vehicle, ambulance NSW Inspector Damian Hughes was also quoted in the article:
“The paramedics were able to make voice contact initially only,” he said.
“We couldn’t even see the victims inside the vehicles until we were able to pry a door open underneath the truck.”
Source: https://au.news.yahoo.com
One woman had to be airlifted to hospital although her injuries were described as non-life-threatening.
The scene of the accident was so shocking that it was a miracle no one was killed, this was the consensus of police and emergency personnel. In fact Supt. Darcy said he has never seen anything like it. He also said that the intersection had a notorious history for crashes. He went on to state:
“This was peak hour on one of the busiest roads of Sydney and this truck has just ploughed through cars and we have been so fortunate,” he told reporters at the scene.
Source: https://au.news.yahoo.com
A video detailing the crash also appeared on the Yahoo News report:
Video Link: https://au.news.yahoo.com/nsw/a/25306918/horror-truck-crash-on-sydneys-northern-beaches/
