Truck driver Niell Graham shares footage of Giru near-miss on Bruce Hwy

A truck driver has shared his chilling experience of a near-miss on the Bruce Highway, where a speeding car overtook him and nearly collided head-on with an oncoming vehicle in the dark.

Stills from dashcam footage taken from Mr Graham's truck. It shows he was going 97/km at the time of the near-miss – and visible in the video is the sign for an upcoming overtaking lane.

A truck driver has spoken out about a near-miss he recently experienced on the Bruce Hwy, when a speeding car overtook him and nearly collided head-on with an oncoming vehicle in the dark.

Niell Graham has been a truck driver for 25 years and said the near-miss on Thursday, November 7, happened very fast.

“I was just outside Giru Greenacres, and it was a little after 7.30pm,” Mr Graham said.

“I was driving a B-double and there was a single behind me, and the second truck was popping out every now and again to have a look down the road.”

The occasional appearance of a headlight in his mirror meant Mr Graham didn’t initially notice when a black car pulled out.

The car proceeded to overtake the single trailer, and Mr Graham’s B-double at speed and would’ve collided head-on with an oncoming car right in front of Mr Graham’s front wheel if the oncoming car hadn’t escaped onto the shoulder in a Hail Mary move.

“It wasn’t till my mirror was completely lit up with light that I realised someone was there,” Mr Graham said.

“The oncoming car was right there as well, I didn’t want to jump on the brakes too much because I knew old mate (the single trailer truck) was right behind me.”

Mr Graham said for a moment, he and the two cars were “all in a line, three-a-breast on the highway”.

“The crazy thing is 100 metres up the road, there is an overtaking lane,” he said.

“From the way that car was speeding, I wouldn’t be surprised if it was stolen. He took off.”

Truck driver Niell Graham captured a near-miss accident on his dashcam while driving between Townsville and Ayr

Mr Graham said they were all lucky the highway had a wide bitumen shoulder in that stretch allowing the oncoming car to escape off the side of the road safely – something his truck couldn’t do so easily.

“When you’ve got a truck with airbags, they don’t like to go off-road. They tend to roll a lot,” Mr Graham said.

“People need to realise they can’t do stupid sh*t around trucks.”

The situation was also helped by the fact that section of road had an extra-wide median strip.

Mr Graham’s main route is Cairns-Brisbane, taking Amart furniture north and bananas and meat south.

He works on the Bruce Hwy and knows it well – and he doesn’t blame the condition of the road for the near-miss.

This section of the Bruce Hwy had been upgraded with bitumen shoulders and an extra-wide medium strip – all factors that would’ve helped the oncoming car avoid a collision.

“Townsville to Bowen is actually my favourite part of the whole Bruce Hwy, it is straight and flat,” he said.

“But there are people who don’t know how to behave around trucks because they aren’t taught it. I reckon L-platers should have to do eight of their 100 hours in the passenger seat of a truck.”

Working on the roads means Mr Graham has seen his fair share of fatalities.

“I’ve been on the scene of a crash at least half a dozen times,” he said.

“I was first on the scene of a major one just south of Gin Gin, and that was two trucks head-on. It was a matter of seconds and I was the first one to get there, it could’ve been me.

“I’ve come across plenty of cars in ditches and called the ambulance and police and things like that.”

The chilling reality of the Giru near-miss is the oncoming car, which did nothing wrong, was suddenly placed in a situation where they needed to react in a matter of seconds to save their own life in the dark while blinded by two sets of headlights.

“The Bruce should’ve been four lanes 20 years ago,” Mr Graham said.

“The Pacific and the Hume have been four lanes for years. The Bruce will get there eventually, but when, who knows.”

Originally published as Truck driver Niell Graham shares footage of Giru near-miss on Bruce Hwy