Truck's brake failure leads to seven-vehicle smash on South Eastern Freeway

By Emily OIle with AAP | September 12, 2019

A truck has hit six vehicles, including a minibus, when its brakes failed near the base of Adelaide’s notorious South Eastern Freeway.

Police say it is “miraculous” no-one was seriously injured.

Emergency services were called to Glen Osmond Road at the exit of the freeway about 6.30pm on Wednesday.

It is believed the semi-trailer lost its brakes.

Several people were treated at the scene by paramedics, with one man taken to hospital with minor injuries.

A cyclist waiting at the intersection escaped injury.

It is believed the truck’s faulty brakes are to blame for the crash.

“It is extremely lucky no-one was seriously injured given the history of this intersection,” a police spokesman told The Advertiser at the scene.

“He (the cyclist) should buy a lottery ticket.

“That’s just insane.”

The truck driver, a 57-year-old man from Queensland, was issued with a defect notice for faulty brakes.

‘He should buy a lottery ticket.’

He was also directed to have his semi-trailer inspected further.

Fatal freeway

The notoriously steep South Eastern Freeway has played host to years of serious accidents and deaths.

In 2010, a man was killed when an out-of-control semi-trailer crashed into a bus stop at the base of the notoriously steep stretch of freeway.

A 2014 accident was the subject of a coronial inquest after a 41-year-old truck driver died when his vehicle crashed into a wall.

And earlier this year, tragedy was averted when the driver of a prime mover lost control and careered into an arrester bed.

Source: 7news.com.au