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Swerving truck driver who 'fell asleep behind the wheel' had medical condition: police

Police believe the man behind the wheel of a harrowing truck serve caught on camera by terrified onlookers had a medical episode at the time of the crash.

Heart-stopping footage emerged yesterday of a truck driver who appeared to 'fall asleep' behind the wheel of a semi-trailer, swerving in between lanes and not 'waking up' until he came to a crashing halt next to the highway.

The semi-trailer can be seen swerving dangerously from side-to-side across the double-lane highway. Photo: Facebook
The semi-trailer can be seen swerving dangerously from side-to-side across the double-lane highway. Photo: Facebook

Emergency services were called at about 3:30pm to the northbound lanes of the M1 near Bushell’s Ridge, police said, and the driver's roadside breath test returned a negative result.

Police confirmed the trucks was a B-double carrying a load of steel.

A Morisset woman following several cars behind the truck started filming after she noticed it swerving recklessly on Sydney’s busy M1 and hitting into guard rails.

"He started swerving small at first, then they started getting bigger," Sam Tuinukuafe told Yahoo7.

Other vehicles in the video can be seen cautiously holding back amid the semi’s unexpected manoeuvres.

The 20-year-old said at first she was scared.

'We didn't know what was happening! We didn't want him to get hurt, or hurt anyone else," she said.

Ms Tuinukuafe said the vehicles around the semi-trailer started beeping their horns in an effort to make the driver more alert.

But instead, the driver’s moves only got more erratic, as he started to head off the road on the right-hand side of the highway.

The truck slips off the highway on to a grass shoulder next to the road, ending the nail-biting rampage. Photo: Facebook
The truck slips off the highway on to a grass shoulder next to the road, ending the nail-biting rampage. Photo: Facebook

“Film it, film it, film it!” the driver of the car yells in the video, as clouds of dust rise around the semi.

Then, the truckie can be seen swerving suddenly and crossing both lanes of the highway again.

“Oh my god, don’t get too close!” Ms Tuinukuafe can be heard saying.

The driver smashes his huge 18-wheeler through the guardrails on the left side of the highway, leaving a gaping hole in the metal structures.

Witness rush to attend to the driver, who has reportedly fallen asleep behind the wheel. Photo: Facebook
Witness rush to attend to the driver, who has reportedly fallen asleep behind the wheel. Photo: Facebook

His vehicle finally comes to a crashing halt on the shoulder of the road, living witnesses bewildered.

Several vehicles stop and Ms Tuinukuafe's mother's partner immediately jumps out of the car and runs over to the driver.

"He opened the door to see if he's okay and he was only just waking up," she recalled.

"He was in shock when we got there!"

Ms Tuinukuafe said the driver was uninjured in the accident.

“He’s ok, no-one was hurt but the truck driver didn’t wake up until he crashed,” she wrote online.

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News break – February 24