Truck driver in South-Eastern Freeway smash says he lost his brakes and couldn’t avoid crashing into cars
The truckie that crashed into multiple cars at the bottom of the freeway has told how he desperately tried to slow his runaway semi-trailer — and the moment he knew it was too late.
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The driver of a semi-trailer that smashed into multiple cars at the bottom of the South-Eastern Freeway after its brakes failed says he thought “f**k, here we go” when he realised he couldn’t stop.
Steve Phillips, 57, told The Advertiser he has lost his livelihood after police stripped him of his driver’s licence for six months after the crash at Glen Osmond just before 6.30pm on Wednesday.
The Queensland truckie was driving a white semi-trailer when it ploughed into seven vehicles waiting to turn right on to Portrush Rd at the bottom of the freeway.
A cyclist was also waiting at the intersection.
Police say it was a “miracle” no one was seriously injured.
They issued Mr Phillips with a defect notice for faulty brakes and directed him to have the truck further inspected.
“Following further investigation, police from the Heavy Vehicle Enforcement Section reported (Mr Phillips) this morning for driving in a dangerous manner and failing to engage his vehicle in a low gear,” a police spokesman said.
The spokesman also confirmed he was issued with a six month loss of licence and will be summonsed to appear in court at a later date.
Mr Phillips said he was travelling about 60km/h along the freeway towards the city when the incident unfolded. He said he lost his brakes after the second arrester bed, which was open.
“I was coming down the hill and I was using my brakes as it was starting to get away … and I got to the last descent and I hit the brakes and the next minute I had air in the brakes,” he said.
Mr Phillips said he could see cars lined up at the intersection and he knew he was going to hit them.
“The lights (at the Toll Gate intersection) were red and I had a trailer loaded with timber.
“I thought ‘f**k, here we go’. I was thinking ‘I hope no one dies’.”
Mr Phillips said as soon as he hit the vehicles he got out and checked that the motorists were OK.
“I got out and asked the man in the ute in front of me if he was all right (and) he was like, ‘yeah’,” he said.
“The main thing is no one was killed.”
Trucks and buses heading down the South-Eastern Freeway are required to use a gear low enough to enable the vehicle to be safely driven without the need for a primary brake, however Mr Phillips defended using brakes during the incident.
“If you’ve got momentum, you’ve got to use your brakes to back them off again,” he said.
Mr Phillips said police had issued him with a six-month loss of licence and he was expecting a fine for dangerous driving.
“So there goes my livelihood — there goes my bread and butter,” he said.
“And I was just trying to do the right thing … when you feel a truck going a bit more than you should be doing, you hit the brakes.”
A spokesman for the Department of Transport said the second arrester bed was not closed at the time of the crash.
Mr Phillips was driving a truck owned by BJ Harris Xpress. The company’s manager Nicole Fletcher described the crash as an “accident”.
“We regret that this happened and we’re glad no one is hurt,” she said.
The crash happened on the same night a young Riverland man died when his car hit a tree about 9.30pm and a cyclist and a motorcyclist were critically injured in separate crashes.
On Tuesday, a man died when his car smashed into a tree on Torrens Rd at high speed.
The downtrack into the city is notorious for truck crashes.
Numerous safety measures, including lower speed limits, upgraded signage and increased penalties for speeding truck drivers, have been implemented on the freeway in response to State Coroner recommendations made after inquests into heavy-vehicle fatalities on the road.
An out-of-control sewage truck smashed into cars at the bottom of the freeway on August 18, 2014, killing Tom Spiess, 56, and Jacqui Byrne, 41.
A coronial inquest into the incident heard the truck was travelling at 151km/h in the final 190m before hitting the victims’ vehicles.
On January 18 that same year, a semi-trailer rolled at the same location, killing its driver James William Venning, 42.
Last year, new safety cameras capable of singling out speeding trucks were installed on the freeway.
The cameras target trucks on the downtrack where they are only permitted to travel up to 60km/h while other vehicles can travel at up to 90km/h.