Deadly prank

By Kath Gannaway
A HEATHMONT man and his female passenger found themselves stranded metres above the Yarra River in Millgrove after they drove their car onto the partly deconstructed Dee Road bridge on Friday night.
Senior Constable Brett Handscomb of Warburton police said that in the pitch black conditions at about 11pm the driver would have had no warning of the perilous conditions he was driving into as he came around a bend onto the bridge.
Sen Const Handscomb said it appeared someone had moved protective barriers and knocked over warning signs which a Shire of Yarra Ranges spokesperson told the Mail were put in place about 6pm on the Friday evening by the bridge contractors.
He said it appeared the vehicle, a Nissan Patrol 4WD, hit a raised board section at the entry to the bridge and lifted, coming to a stop with the wheels wedged between the cross-beams.
While neither the driver or passenger was injured, Sen Const Handscomb said it could have been a very different story had it been a motor bike.
“I hate to think about the consequences if a bike, which may well have been going even a bit faster, had hit the cross-beams.
The Mail has been unable to contact the couple involved.
Ian Duff of Yarra Junction Towing had the difficult task of retrieving the vehicle the next day.
He said while the couple had had some time to recover from their ordeal, they were still very upset by the incident.
The driver told him he had had no warning.
“The young lady told me she went to step out when the car finally stopped and there was nothing there.
“She realised then the situation they were in and had to walk across the spans, a metre apart, to get back to the roadway.
“It was scary enough for me walking across there, and it was daylight when we were there working on getting the car out,” Mr Duff said.
“They were just lucky they were adults and that they were able to keep their heads about them in that situation.”
Mr Duff said the fact they were in a car and, more than likely, had seat belts to protect them, saved them from injury.
“If that had been a bike you would be looking at a death. Absolutely,” he said.
Warburton resident Wayne Thomas, who took the accompanying photo, said the photo doesn’t show the severity of the situation and what could have been a much worse outcome.
“The crosspieces only went in about a week or so ago, before that it was only the beams. People could have been killed,” he said.
Simon Thomas, the Shire of Yarra Ranges director, environment and engineering, said the shire had replaced the signs and barriers and would install an additional steel gate on the approach to the bridge. “The shire is most concerned that the irresponsible act of removing signs and barriers at the bridge site could have resulted in serious injury or death to drivers approaching the incomplete bridge,” he said.
Sen Const Handscomb said police are investigating and that the offenders could face charges of deliberately endangering life or person.
Anyone with information about the removal of the safety barriers and signs should contact Warburton police on 5966 2006 or Yarra Junction police on 5967 1104.