Call for B-double ban after truck slams into restaurant
A local mayor is calling for B-double trucks to be banned from Adelaide’s Glen Osmond Rd following a serious crash early this morning.
The truck ploughed into a popular Frewville restaurant at about 1am, but not before leaving a trail of destruction that caused traffic mayhem for peak hour drivers.
It has been heading up Glen Osmond Rd when it hit a parked van, stobie pole, gas metre and a fire hydrant before mashing into the front of the Sinagpore House restaurant.
Guests at a nearby motel were awoken by the impact.
“We thought something had blown up, you know, like an earthquake and the bed shook,” one guest said.
The driver managed to escape with minor injuries, but the restaurant entrance sustained considerable damage.
“Very lucky, very very lucky it didn’t happen any earlier than that,” restaurant owner Naveen Irkulla said.
City-bound peak hour traffic was slowed to a crawl while the stobie pole was replaced, with the road only opened early this afternoon.
Police investigators are working to determine the cause of the crash.
The Unley mayor wants B-doubles banned from Glen Osmond Rd and re-directed.
“This is one of the prime retail and café strips in the city of Unley and in the metropolitan area, so we want to move those B-doubles onto safer streets,” Lachlan Clyne told 7News.
But Steve Shearer from the South Australian Road Transport Association is against the idea.
“How would people on Cross Rd and Portrush Rd feel about having the freight and trucks moved from Glen Osmond Rd into someone else’s backyard,” he said.
Trucking company Linfox said it is cooperating with authorities and has launched an internal investigation.
