Review sought after Bolte Bridge bingle
The fallout from a truck crash on the Bolte Bridge in May continues, with authorities using it as evidence safety laws should be overhauled.
Truck driver Yousef Jaffary was hurled from his cab during the crash earlier this year which left his 16-tonne rig dangling precariously over the edge of a bridge. Road safety experts said the accident showed the need for a review; early suggestions include lower speed limits and forcing trucks to stay in left-hand lanes. The stretch of road where the crash happened has a limit of 100km/h, a report to be presented this month will recommend that truck drivers are banned from overtaking other vehicles on bridges and are kept to a 60km/h speed limit.
Professor Raphael Grzebieta, head of the Transport and Road Safety Research Group at the University of New South Wales, said; "If these heavy vehicles do get out of control we have to make sure they are not going to launch through the barriers and on to the street below... luckily the truck on the Bolte Bridge was empty, which was very fortunate, otherwise it would have gone through the barrier.”
It is believed the crash was caused by the truck having to take emergency evasive procedures when a small car pulled in front of it while both were trying to exit. The report will also recommend trucks travel in the left lane and smaller vehicles on the outside to minimise interaction between the two.