Truck terror

By Monique Ebrington
RESIDENTS are living in fear of log truck drivers who take dangerous risks along the narrow and winding roads of the Upper Yarra.
Senior Constable Brett Hanscomb, of Warburton Police, responded to an incident recently where a log truck lost its load along Warburton-Woods Point Road.
The 31-year-old Warburton man was driving the log truck along the Reefton Spur, around 3pm last Monday, 1 February, when he lost control of the vehicle as he attempted a sharp right-hand corner.
Sen Const Hanscomb said the truck tipped on its side, causing several logs to spill out of the back of the truck.
He said the driver was transported to Maroondah Hospital with minor injuries.
Warburton resident Donna Brown was one of the motorists who were stopped as a result of the log truck crash.
She said while the motorists, last Monday, were simply ‘inconvenienced’ by the incident, it was only a matter of time before a more serious incident occurred.
“Last year my friend’s children were almost run over by a logging truck,” Ms Brown said.
“It was travelling extremely fast on a dirt road passing Big Peninsula Tunnel, a local and tourist swimming hole in the national park.
“Unless more safety precautions are taken, with regard to these heavy trucks on our roads, I fear it is only a matter of time before someone is seriously injured.”
Warburton resident Julie Ward had a personal near miss with a log truck on Australia Day this year.
Ms Ward said she was travelling along Little Yarra Road, with her two-year-old daughter, when the pair narrowly avoided colliding with a log truck.
‘I was heading out of Powelltown, towards Yarra Junction, and I was just about to enter a corner when a truck came flying toward me,” Ms Brown said.
“The truck had that really shaky look about it, it looked like it was going to tip over.
She said that she was forced to swerve over to the side of the road to avoid being ‘collected’ by the truck.
“I basically held my breath and hoped he wouldn’t hit us, because there was nowhere for us to go,” she said.
She said that for days afterwards she felt angry and shocked by the driver’s actions.
“How much weight would be in one of those trucks if something did go wrong?” Ms Brown said.
“That’s what is so frightening.
“It’s probably only the odd driver who speeds, but, that’s enough. That’s enough to take someone’s life.”
Despite the concerns of residents, SenConst Hanscomb said log truck drivers in the Upper Yarra were not a concern to police.
“They have been carting logs up here for 100 years,” Sen Const Hanscomb said.
“We certainly don’t have a problem with them speeding. They are well aware of the speed limits.”
His advice to drivers is to be patient and travel at a safe speed around log trucks and other heavy vehicles.
Sen Const Hanscomb said, however, drivers who came across speeding truck drivers should take as much information down as possible and phone 000 or Warburton Police Station on 5966 2006.