Opposition Leader Tony Abbott in near miss with truck
OPPOSITION leader Tony Abbott has narrowly escaped a collision with a truck as he arrived to inspect part of the Princes Hwy west of Geelong this morning.
As Mr Abbott's car slowed to turn into a property beside the highway in Winchelsea, a van pulled out from behind his vehicle into the path of a truck, the Geelong Advertiser reports.
The truck driver narrowly managed to stop his vehicle jack-knifing in the dirt beside the road as stunned journalists and local politicians watched on.
The truck was about five metres away from colliding with the van and Abbott's car.
The truck wobbled on its wheels and at one stage came close to toppling.
Mr Abbott was shaken by the near miss when talking to the press minutes later.
"We just saw a moment ago how perilous this road can be,'' he said.
"You can never entirely eliminate danger on the roads but the better the roads are, the less hazard there is to traffic.
Mr Abbott was visiting Winchelsea to inspect the Princes Highway following calls over the years to have the notorious stretch of road duplicated between Geelong and Winchelsea.
However, despite his first hand experience, Mr Abbott stopped short of pledging any funding to the duplication at this stage.
I like the last sentence in bold above. What the hell was he doing there anyway?
UPDATE: An interview with the driver:
SABRA LANE: Twenty-nine-year-old Luke McCrae was behind the wheel of the truck. He was on his regular Melbourne to Warrnambool runs. He’s been driving trucks for about eight years.
LUKE MCCRAE: I was travelling down the road behind a mini bus. The mini bus slammed on the brakes, car sitting in the middle of the road. The mini bus tried to go around the car and ’cause I was in the truck behind with more weight, I had to try and go round you guys.
SABRA LANE: You seem to be pretty lucky to keep the truck upright.
LUKE MCCRAE: Very lucky.
SABRA LANE: Were you shaken up? I would imagine there was a fair amount of adrenaline running around your body.
LUKE MCCRAE: I didn’t realise how bad it was until I looked at it on the computer.
SABRA LANE: You’ve looked at the footage now?
LUKE MCCRAE: Yes.
SABRA LANE: What did you think when you looked at those pictures?
LUKE MCCRAE: Just lucky, that nobody got hurt.
SABRA LANE: When did you realise Tony Abbott was in that car?
LUKE MCCRAE: Oh, about 10 minutes ago.
SABRA LANE: Tony Abbott says that it’s a dangerous road, is it a dangerous road?
LUKE MCCRAE: Yes, it a dangerous road.
SABRA LANE: Were you disappointed that the COMCAR had pulled up where it had?
LUKE MCCRAE: Yes.
SABRA LANE: Is that particular road a dangerous stretch or was just dangerous because the COMCAR had pulled up where it had?
LUKE MCCRAE: Oh, it’s just because where the car had pulled up where it had.
The next question should have been:
If you knew it was Tony Abbott in the car would you have swerved?
6 comments:
The Mad Monk is madder than usual, obviously working under the impression he's already PM and can doll out the lolly to all and sundry.
Funny how he complained about the road safety yet would not commit to funding the road in question.
Seriously why was he there then? Other than to cause accidents?
That stupid truckie that I hired... I was next to him in the cab instructing him all the way on how to hit Abbott's car and he farking MISSED. That truckie will be sleeping with the fishes before year's end, mark my words!
Mags, I have updated the post with the interview with the truck driver.
Well that's HIS story and he's sticking with it!
Courtesy of Catherine Deveny..."The only reason Abbott wasn't hit was because he'd turned off the highway. Turned off highwat? That guy can turn off anything"
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