A semi-trailer crashed into the start of the centre barriers, near the Billabong Roadhouse on Monday morning, before coming to a halt 100 metres along the Princes Highway.
The truck driver, aged in his 30s, from Melbourne, was uninjured but his scrap metal truck suffered extensive undercarriage damage and had to be towed from the accident scene.
He told the Advertiser that the road “is too narrow and uneven”.
The truck driver had just picked up a load of scrap metal from Swan Reach and was on his way back to Melbourne when the accident happened.
Two fire brigade units attended at the scene.
Greg Mayes, from Fernbank CFA, told the Advertiser that in his 30 years with the fire brigade he had never seen so many accidents on the Princes Highway between Bairnsdale and Stratford since the centre barriers were installed.
“There’s been too many crashes since they put in the barriers, they have got to take them out,” he said.
Recently, Safe Freight Networks Australia, criticised the barriers arguing that the “road surface remains uneven and poor”.
The company said it was seeking a roughness audit “as it would appear from a truck driver’s perspective to be extremely uneven resulting in trailers and prime movers being tossed around from side to side”.
Safe Freight Networks Australia said it had had reports from livestock transporters that they now use the Bengworden Road because of cattle injuries caused by trailer strikes against the barriers.
“We are not against the barriers, our problem is that the job was not done to a standard that meets the needs of our industry,” a spokesperson said.
“The road is no longer fit for purpose.”
IMAGE: The centre barriers on the Princes Highway between Bairnsdale and Stratford have claimed another truck. A semi-trailer, carrying scrap metal, ploughed into the barrier dividing the road, near the Billabong Roadhouse, on Monday morning. Story page 2. K295-6178
