Friday, Apr 20, 2012 at 12:23
Jeez, don't get me started on idiots in cars coming across oversize loads. As an ex-earthmoving contractor, I've seen and been involved with some rippers.
1. The woman with a car and caravan who tried to pass my 4.2M wide, 100 tonne low-loader on the Gt Eastern Highway, between
Southern Cross and
Coolgardie. She hit the gravel on the RH shoulder at 80 kmh, lost control, went sideways, and ploughed into the RHF mudguard of the Mack - blowing the front tyre, wrecking the mudguard and the front fuel tank on the Mack.
The car & 'van both rolled - but fortunately, into the scrub, not under the float. I don't know how she got as far out of
Perth as she did, with her total lack of
driving skills.
2. The old bloke just out of
Kalgoorlie, on the Kambalda road, who stopped dead in his lane when he saw the oversize float coming. The brother was piloting, pulled up alongside him, and said - "You'll have to pull off onto the shoulder mate - oversize load coming, it's 4.5M wide."
The old blokes response? With a death grip on the wheel, and making no attempt to move, he cries out - "But, this is MY SIDE OF THE ROAD!!" The float driver had to drive around him.
3. The bloke in the panel van who never even attempted to move over for the brother when he was transporting a Cat D8 with a big stick rake attached.
The brother was forced to move over onto the rain-soaked shoulder, or he'd had torn the roof out of the panel van.
The low-loader wheels went sideways off the road when they hit the muddy shoulder, and the LHS of the stick rake hit a huge whitegum.
This impact with the tree flipped the Cat D8 straight off the float and onto the road, where amazingly, it stayed upright. The panel van driver went on his merry way, oblivious to anything happening around or behind him.
Cheers - Ron.
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