Lucky log-truck driver

– Kath Gannaway
THE DRIVER of a log-truck was lucky to escape with no more than soreness after crashing his truck on the Black Spur on Thursday 28 July.
Senior Constable Ron Veldman of Yarra Ranges Highway Patrol said a log guard at the front of the trailer was pushed into the back of the cabin, but stopped any logs from pushing through.
He said the truck was travelling on Maroondah Highway towards Healesville, when the driver moved to the left to allow a truck travelling in the opposite direction a bit more room.
The crash happened on a narrow section of the highway between Fernshaw Reserve and Dom Dom Saddle.
“It’s only 2.7 metres wide for traffic in each direction, and with the width of a standard truck at 2.5 metres, there is little room for error,” Sen Const Veldman said.
The truck’s wheels went off the bitumen, and when the driver pulled it back on to the roadway, it rolled over scattering logs across the road and up the embankment.
The driver, a 41-year-old West Melton man, was taken by ambulance to Maroondah Hospital and later discharged with only soreness.
The highway was closed until 9pm as salvage trucks righted the truck and recovered the logs.