A funny thing happened today ( and I wasnt quick enuf with my camera ! )
During my work as a truck driver each day as you can imagine I get to see a fairly wide spectrum of events unfold in front of me ,, some pretty horrific , some sad , some frustrating and crazy , but today,s one beat the lot .
I was entering Colchester town from the main A120 road from Ipswich ,, a car in front of me , fairly heavy traffis a 30 mph limit so I am holding well back as I am fully loaded , anyway we approach a road on the nearside with traffic waiting to turn right across our paths with a guy in a small car parts van at the head of the queue ,, so were nearly on top of him and he pulls right out in front of the car in front of me , he stands on his brake they miss by fag papers ,, so they guy in the car gives it the biggun out the window to this van driver , he stops in the middle of the road in front of him gets out ,,,,,,,and I,m thinking here we go !
Then I realise he is wearing a dress with opaque tights on to cover his hairy legs ! He starts tapping on the cars window and remonstrating with him ,, unfortunately at this stage I had tears running down my cheeks and forgot to get the camera out .
Anyway it fizzled out as quick as it started with this ( guy ? ) mincing back into his car parts van and wheel spinning off ,,
When we pulled up at the next set of lights I shouted out me window to the befuddled and confused guy in front of me '' You didnt know whether to thump it or hump it did you ? "
I know these freaks have to dress like a woman for 2 years before they chop the bits off , we have one driving a local bus round here ,, but please give me a break :)
lucky you were not this truck driver
Chaos set to drag on after horror smash
Crane rights dangling truck amid traffic chaos
Emergency crews work to right a truck that has been hanging off CityLink since a collision early this morning.
Commuters continue to face a peak hour struggle despite key part of one of Melbourne's busiest roads being reopened after a spectacular truck crash which saw the driver plummet 20 metres from an overpass.
CityLink's awkward configuration of lanes and on and off-ramp near the Bolte Bridge is now under scrutiny with some transport experts blaming it both for causing traffic congestion and encouraging drivers to continually and dangerously change lanes.
Police said the truck swerved when it was involved in a collision with a car that was attempting to merge in front of it about 6.30am Friday. The truck then flipped and almost tumbled off a section of CityLink in North Melbourne, near the Bolte Bridge.
https://teakdoor.com/images/imported/2013/05/1834.jpg The overturned truck can be seen in this picture tweeted by ABC journalist Ashlynne Mcghee. Photo: Twitter
A VicRoads spokeswoman said that while the two right-hand lanes inbound from Flemington Road had reopened, the speed limit had been reduced to 40km/h.
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The Racecourse Road entry ramp to Citylink remains closed, and traffic is banked up to the Eastern Freeway.
"Delays may still be experienced through the area and drivers are advised to allow extra time," Citylink said.
https://teakdoor.com/images/imported/2013/05/1835.jpg Click for more photos Bolte Bridge crash
A truck that hung from the Bolte Bridge is lifted by a crane. Photo: Simon O'Dwyer
Transport exports have warned that if CityLink's problems are not fixed before the planned east-west link is build, city-bound congestion could become even worse on the Bolte toll-way bridge.
By mid afternoon, the truck, which may have been carrying a bobcat at the time of the crash, was lifted from the barrier on the bridge in what the Metropolitan Fire Brigade described as "an incredibly intricate operation".
The 39-year-old truck driver, from Roxburgh Park, was ejected from the cabin during the collision. He was treated at the bottom of the overpass onto Mark Street before being rushed to the Royal Melbourne Hospital. He remains in a critical condition and fighting for his life with head and pelvic injuries.
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The male driver of the car, a 25-year-old Spotswood man, is in a stable condition at The Alfred hospital.
Police said the car travelling inbound in lane three attempted to merge in front of the truck in lane four. The car made contact with truck causing it to spin and end up resting in lane four.
"The truck has swerved and has hit the right barrier then veered across four lanes, heavily impacting the concrete barrier on the left," police said on Friday afternoon.
https://teakdoor.com/images/imported/2013/05/1849.jpg Police survey the scene as the truck hangs dangerously. Photo: Pat Scala
Police said the truck had been lifted back onto the bridge but it would be several hours before it could be removed.
The design of the road, with its cumbersome network of on and off-ramps, was criticised by transport industry insiders, who said it created chaos and congestion. Three separate exit lanes at the bridge's southern end create long queues and encourage regular lane splitting, they said.
"There's issues between cars and trucks," said Neil Chambers, chief executive of the Victorian Transport Association, which represents the freight and logistics industry. "The design could have been better. People tend to leave it to the last minute to get into the correct lane."
Upfield train services were halted between North Melbourne and Coburg during the afternoon, because of recovery work for the accident at Macauley station. The line has since reopened and Metro says services will run as scheduled.
Meanwhile, the director of public policy at the RACV, Brian Negus, estimated the cost in lost productivity would be about a million dollars.
‘‘The last time we had a major crash it was a million dollars,’’ he said. ‘‘Given that it’s going to be closed for most of the day, it’s going to be in the million dollar category I would have thought.’’
Mr Negus said the crash underlined the need for more road spending.
‘‘It does show the vulnerability of our freeway system to these sorts of crashes and it amplifies the need for the East-West link to try and provide an alternative.’’
In the five years to December 31, 2012, there were 71 casualty crashes on CityLink between Racecourese Road and the West Gate Freeway, VicRoads data shows. These included one fatal crash. Twenty-four of the incidents resulted in serious injuries.
Dean Zabrieszach, VicRoads Director of Road Operations, said that ‘‘VicRoads conservatively estimates that the cost of today’s incident, from the time it occurred until 1pm, is approximately $600k.
‘‘This cost will continue to increase every hour until the incident is cleared. VicRoads estimates that between 1pm and the start of the evening peak period, the cost will increase by $50k per hour.’’
Earlier, Metropolitan Fire Brigade Assistant Chief Officer Adam Dalrymple said it appeared the truck driver had swerved to avoid a car that had suddenly veered in front of him.
‘‘From all reports the car veered across and the truck took some evasive action and that’s how the incident began,’’ he said. ‘‘It’s a pretty intense, horrific sort of incident.’’
Cranes were brought in to secure the dangling truck before it could be safely removed.
The crash also cracked a brick wall on a building beneath the bridge. Fire crews examined the building to make sure the damage didn't cause it to collapse.
Chris Hayes, a manager at nearby Reece Plumbing, said the sound of the truck falling over was like a ‘‘clap of thunder’’ that lasted between five and 10 seconds.
A local factory worker told radio station 3AW how he was first to arrive at the scene after hearing a crash and finding the truck driver on the road.
The man, who asked to remain anonymous, said it appeared a street light may have broken the truck driver’s fall. He comforted the injured man as he fell in and out of consciousness and reassured him after he told his comforter of his fears of dying.
A police spokesman said there was "a big mystery as to how it [the accident] happened" and that a crane had been ordered to pull the truck back from the brink.
A CityLink spokeswoman said the accident happened at 6.35am. Traffic was banked back to Bell Street, she said.
MFB operations commander Peter Egan told ABC Local Radio that an engineer would be called in to assess the road and cranes would be needed on and below the freeway to clear the wreckage.
"We’re looking at somewhere between four and six hours [until the road can reopen]," he said. "We hope it will be open for the evening peak, if not I’ll be disappointed."
A witness told 3AW that the truck was "just hanging over the edge" of the road, above the overpass with Macaulay train station, and was being held back by its trailer.
Kelvin Prior and Ian Hocking, General Manager and Managing Director of Flexible Drive Agencies, were at Macaulay station as the accident occurred.
"We'd just missed our 6.20 train when about 6.30 we heard a huge rumble. The noise was something I've never heard before," Mr Prior said.
Mr Hocking thought a train had crashed.
The men said a billboard on the freeway showed a black outline of the crashed truck.
"When you stand on the platform, you can see a billboard that, at that time, was blindingly white. We were looking at the billboard, and the truck was basically a black outline against it. It was very eerie," Mr Hocking said.
Age photographer Pat Scala, who is at the scene, said the driver had apparently fallen out of his cabin onto a road beneath CityLink – a drop of "about 20 metres".
Neil Chambers from the Victorian Transport Association said the "issue of road design" made the road a high-risk collision zone.
Accidents on the tollway happen frequently. CityLink reported that motorists were involved in 343 rear-end collisions on the tollway in 2012, up from 136 in 2007.
Consequently, a ‘‘Look Up, Stay Back’’ campaign was launched in December in a bid to reduce nose-to-tail prangs.
Just last month, a collision between a truck and a car near Strathmore also caused the closure of inbound lanes on CityLink.
In October 3 last year, a computer glitch sent CityLink into meltdown and caused traffic chaos – dubbed ‘‘carmageddon’’ – throughout Melbourne.
CityLink’s twin Burnley and Domain tunnels were shut for more than 12 hours from 4.30am, resulting in gridlock that encircled the CBD to a radius of 20km.
The deadliest CityLink accident happened in 2007 when a truck swerved at the last minute into the centre lane to avoid another truck.
It set off a series of collisions that led to the three men’s deaths in a ten-car pile-up. Their cars were crushed and engulfed by fire in the crash.
With Caroline Zielinski, Nino Bucci and AAP
