The intersection of Northbourne and the Barton Highway on the southbound side was all blocked off with a couple of fire trucks and several police cars when I went past at 9pm tonight (Sunday).
Going round the corner onto the highway (no one was being let through that side of the intersection) I caught a glimpse of an overturned truck. Anyone know anything now (or else I’m sure there’ll be stuff in tomorrow’s news about it)?
UPDATE As Nik the pig mentions below, the truck was in fact a beer truck. It was commented to me that this might be why there were so many police and fire trucks hanging round hours after the event. CT story reproduced below.
From the Canberra Times 10-OCT-05, page 3:
Overturned truck delays race traffic
By Victor ViolanteCivic-bound traffic returning from the Canberra Cup was reduced to a crawl last night after a semi-trailer rolled on Northbourne Avenue.
The 18-wheel truck carrying beer was turning right on to Northbourne Avenue from the Barton Highway about 5pm when it rolled.
Motorists at the scene helped the driver out of the truck, pulling him out of the driver’s side door, and attending to him before police and ambulance officers arrived.
“The driver was a bit dazed, me and another guy helped him out the driver’s door. He didn’t say much, he was just rubbing his head and in a bit of shock,” one witness said.
No other vehicles were involved. The driver was taken to Calvary Hospital for precautionary examinations, and a fire truck attended to a minor diesel fuel spill, an ACT Emergency Services spokesman said.
Police cordoned off a section of Northbourne Avenue for several hours, from Antill Street to Barton Highway, causing substantial delays for motorists returning from cup day at Thoroughbred Park. The accident happened just 30 minutes after the main race, stranding many race revellers on their way home.
A witness said the trailer’s rear wheel appeared to leave the ground as it turned on to Northbourne Avenue. “The right-side wheels of the trailer began to lift in the air and held there as it continued through the corner, and then the whole thing just fell on its side,” the man said. “He didn’t appear to be going fast at all, it just fell and stopped — it didn’t keep sliding or anything.”
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