A grey nomad died after his campervan was struck by a truck trailer that had swung across onto the wrong side of the road in Tasmania.
The New South Wales driver, who was described as ‘elderly’, was pronounced dead at the scene. His female passenger was taken to Launceston General Hospital with minor injuries. The truck driver was unhurt.
The crash happened on Thursday near Frankford, west of Launceston, in atrocious weather. The Advertiser newspaper reports that heavy rain and hail was falling on the windy section of road when the collision occurred.
“Preliminary investigations indicate that the truck lost control of its trailer in the poor conditions,” a Tasmania Police crash investigator said in a statement. “The trailer crossed to the wrong side of the road and collided with the front of the campervan, destroying the right hand side.”
The wild weather that affected much of the east coast late last week also claimed the life of a caravanner who was struck on the head when a tree fell on his van near Hervey Bay on Friday.
Trucks seem to cause a lot of fatalities on Tasmanian roads. The sight of a fully laden log truck heading towards you at what is an unsafe speed is frightening especially on some of the minor roads. It is sad that some truck drivers do not know when to slow down and drive in a safe manner but then they are usually the ones that walk away uninjured when they collide with smaller vehicles. Perhaps they should drive as if it is their family in the vehicle in front of them. I applaud the many truck drivers who do drive extremely safely on our highways in a most courteous manner but the cowboys continue to ruin peoples lives.