Real reason behind truck’s terrifying rampage where it veered off the road, smashed through the front of homes and destroyed as bus stop – as colleagues break their silence
- Truck driver lost control of B-Double last week
- Revealed to colleagues he passed out before crash
- No one was seriously injured along 200m long destruction
The driver of a truck that went out of control – spectacularly demolishing a bus stop and the front fences of several homes – says he passed out behind the wheel and is ‘grateful’ no-one was injured.
Extraordinary dashcam footage emerged at the weekend showing a B-double driving off the side of the road and causing a 200m long trail of destruction. The only reason is failed to hit anyone was sheer luck.
The driver’s company, DTL Timbers, said the incident occurred because the man suffered a medical episode as he drove along Hampstead Road in Manningham, central Adelaide, just after 10am on February 28.
The 31-year-old male driver only sustained a cut to his head.
‘At this stage he’s still trying to recall what happened,’ Xavier Terrell, the office manager at DTL Timbers, told 7News.
‘He’s really, really grateful that nobody was injured in any way shape or form.’
Motorist Paul Brackley managed to capture the truck on his car’s dashcam and said he was nearly hit by the out-of-control vehicle.
‘He completely lost control, and he was coming into me so I put my foot on the accelerator to get away,’ he told Nine News.
The truck came to rest in a row of hedges after demolishing a bus stop and careening across pedestrian-less footpath for 200m.
The truckie was slumped over the console when Mr Brackley rushed over to help.
‘(The driver) had blood on his face but he looked ok, apart from that,’ Mr Brackley said.
‘The truck was making a hell of a noise when I got there and I was thinking, could it blow up? Or what could happen?’
The truck had not only smashed straight through fences and hedges but had also gone through the middle of a busy intersection.
The driver of a B-Double truck that lost control in central Adelaide and caused a 200m trail of destruction has told colleagues that he passed out prior to the accident
The office manager of the trucking company, Xavier Terrell (pictured), said that the driver was still trying to remember what happened but is ‘grateful’ that no one was seriously injured
Mr Brackley said it was a ‘miracle’ nobody was killed, with not a single pedestrian on the sidewalk or in their front yards during the crash.
The truck driver was taken to the Royal Adelaide Hospital and underwent mandatory drug and alcohol testing.
Photos from the scene show the vehicle’s windscreen was completely shattered while nearby trees were scattered across the ground.
When emergency services arrived at the scene just after 10am, they expected serious injuries and casualties from the carnage.
‘Our primary concern was to search for any casualties,’ Kevin Holmes from South Australia’s Metropolitan Fire Service said.
‘We ended up using a thermal imaging camera around the B-Double to ascertain if there was a life lost.’
