Truck falls off Spaghetti Junction bridge

[Alan]

A Durban man is counting his lucky stars today after almost being killed in the drama at Spaghetti Junction…

James Baillie had been driving on the N2 - at Spaghetti Junction - at the exact moment that part of horse and trailer which had jack-knifed on the bridge above, fell onto the road below. One of the containers landed right in front of James’ car.

“I thought, gee whizz I’m dead. This thing’s going to land on top of my car,” he told Newswatch.

“I slammed (on my) brakes and the truck and that landed literally a metre or two in front of me. My heart stopped beating!”

Tragically, the driver of the horse and trailor was killed in the incident.

There are major traffic disruptions there too with the N3 - inbound and outbound - closed at Spaghetti Junction, as well as the N2, southbound.

http://blog.ecr.co.za/newswatch/?p=1215

Not surprised at all this happened. The way people drive nowadays, that corner was an accident waiting to happen.

 

[Fudzy]

Geez he was incredibly lucky, I remember a couple of years back a truck fell of the top and landed on some poor chap who'd broken down on the PMB bound underpass.

I remember the tailbacks caused by them raising the barriers, guess they need to go a bit higher.

 

[ToxicBunny]

Raising those barriers wouldn't make much difference really. The way trucks hurtle around those corners is insane....

The barriers stop cars yes, but not 20 or 30 ton trucks doing 100+... They would need something super special to stop that.

 

[The_Unbeliever]

Permanently manned speed trap and instant fine if you go higher than the speed limit.

But this won't work as :

1. The equipment will be broken/stolen
2. the orificers will be sleeping/shagging their girlfriends in the bushes nearby/accepting bribes

 

[Ady]

Poor guy, i think i would have to sell my car because my ass would have chewed a hole in the drivers seat.

 

[semiautomatix]

Poor guy, i think i would have to sell my car because my ass would have chewed a hole in the drivers seat.

No amount of valeting is going to get that stain out the seat

 

[EtienneK]

Raising those barriers wouldn't make much difference really. The way trucks hurtle around those corners is insane....

The barriers stop cars yes, but not 20 or 30 ton trucks doing 100+... They would need something super special to stop that.

They must use those concrete barriers that the military uses. I saw a video once of a truck traveling at 100km/h colliding headlong with one of those barriers. The truck caught fire and exploded, but the barrier still stood firm.

 

[Ady]

They must use those concrete barriers that the military uses. I saw a video once of a truck traveling at 100km/h colliding headlong with one of those barriers. The truck caught fire and exploded, but the barrier still stood firm.

Either way the driver is going to be toast! Burnt toast!