The driver of a sump cleaner truck which flipped upside down near the King Edward Technical College building on Stuart St today is a "very lucky man".
Emergency services are swarming around the scene where the wrecked Intergroup truck crashed and ended upside down.
Fire and Emergency New Zealand Dunedin Senior Station Officer Kerry McNamara said the driver of the truck was now in the care of St John, but appeared to have minor injuries.
"He's a very lucky man."
No-one else was hurt, he said.
A man who saw the crash said it appeared the driver "lost control of the vehicle" as he was driving down Stuart St.
He was honking and trying to warn other cars, he said.
It was spectacular, he said.
"I think the truck was well and truly gone before it got down there."
There is dirty water and debris scattered about the scene.
Two other cars have been damaged in the crash.
The area around the crash has been cordoned off.
Emergency services were called about 11.15am and traffic is being diverted away from the accident.
A police media spokeswoman said there was an oil spill on Stuart St from the crash.
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Comments
What is happening with these flipping trucks ... no pun intended. There's seems to have been an increasing number of accidents involving heavy transport of late and I have to start wondering if there's a common denomonator in all.
I believe most truckies have dash cams onboard which may be some assistance in determining the cause of a crash, however, and without sounding like a Sci-Fi nut, why not put "black boxes", albeit a simplified model that stores information like speed, gear, RPM, air pressure (brakes), etc., and regular monthly CoF checks on chassis, steering and brakes ... too often ?? ... just have a look at the loads some of those trucks carry, the roads they drive on and the distances they travel.
The technology is available, it's probably just a matter of convincing the trucking companies that the cost of the equipment required is less than a human life ... and there have been a few too many deaths lately with head-on accidents with trucks.
I am in no way saying that the truckies are to blame ... there's some total idiotic car drivers out there that can "force" a truckie into taking evasive action, which is usually "instinctive" not "planned".