B-Double the danger

A SPATE of heavy vehicle crashes on NSW roads has prompted calls for wire barriers to be installed on the state's major highways.

Crash

A SPATE of heavy vehicle crashes on NSW roads has prompted calls for wire barriers to be installed on the state's major highways.

The call comes after a 80-tonne B-Double truck crashed through the front bedroom of a house in the mid-north coastal town of Macksville last week - the third major accident there in the past year.

"We need to build road wire rope barriers in those built up areas," said Professor Raphael Grzebieta from Traffic and Road Safety Research at the University of NSW.

"If they (the wire barriers) were there, those cars would not have crossed the road causing the accidents. They have them near the airport for the same reason," he said.

The most recent accident in Macksville almost claimed the lives of a family of three.

Seven-year-old Jett Lynch had just snuck into his parents bed at 1am last Saturday when an 80-tonne B-Double came crashing through the front bedroom of their home, narrowly missing the bed.

"Just half a metre and my wife, me and my little boy would not be here," said a shaken Andrew Lynch.

In an accident mirroring the one that killed an 11-year-old just 30kms down the road at Urunga in January, the B-Double swerved to miss an oncoming car on the wrong side of the road and took out two houses.

B-Doubles, which do the job of two semi-trailers by carrying two containers, lead to higher productivity and cheaper transport.

They now outnumber traditional semitrailers, carting a third of the nations freight.

But many roads, like the old Pacific Highway north of Grafton are struggling to cope.

"These fully-laden B-doubles, they have less time to brake, why should we put up with it, our houses shake all night, and it shudders every hour of the week," said Mr Lynch, a 43-year-old nurse.

"It is really only a matter of time before it goes into another house."

A NSW Transport spokesperson said last year there were 69 heavy vehicles involved in fatal crashes, of which 15 were B-doubles, resulting in 17 fatalities.

The completion of the dual carriageway has stalled because the state government will not pay a 50/50 split on the cost with the federal government, holding out for an 80/20 split.