The 63-year-old Golden Square man pleaded guilty in Bendigo Magistrates’ Court to driving in a dangerous manner, failing to wear a seatbelt and two counts of failing to record the required information in the truck’s work diary.
The court heard the truck driver had been sent to a Goornong property on Holmes Rd on July 13, 2022, to collect hay in his Kenworth prime mover with a semi-trailer to take to Mansfield.
When he turned from the Midland Hwy on to a 90m access road — heading towards Holmes Rd — that had a railway track halfway along it, the Echuca to Melbourne VLocity train, with 42 people onboard, was approaching from the south.
The court was told the crossing was usually locked with metal gates to prohibit general access, but the gates had been opened by someone at the property to allow the truck to enter.
The man drove the truck slowly towards the crossing and on to the tracks in front of the oncoming train at 8.05am.
The prosecutor said the train driver activated the emergency brakes and sounded a whistle 69m before the crossing, but hit the driver’s side of truck, which was on the crossing.
The crash split the semi-trailer combination in two, with the prime mover on the west side of the crossing and the trailer on the east side.
The truck driver, who was not wearing a seat-belt, was thrown out the window of the truck and was left hanging upside down.
The truck driver was flown to the Royal Melbourne Hospital after the crash with a broken leg, shattered knee, three broken ribs and three fractured vertebrae.
The prosecutor said when interviewed after the crash, the truck driver told police he did not see the train, and that the extension of air cleaners outside the truck’s cabin may have obstructed his view.
He also told police he had not filled his work diary in before the crash because he was only driving five minutes and intended to fill it in at pick-up time.
The truck driver’s solicitor argued against the dangerous driving charge, saying he should be charged with careless driving instead, but was overruled by the magistrate.
“His instruction is the train was obscured by foliage running alongside the track,” the defence solicitor said.
He also said his client drove slowly over the line, and a video from the truck’s dash camera showed this to be the case.
“It’s not like he’s racing the train. He’s clearly not seen the train at all,” he said.
“There’s no speed, drugs or alcohol. And there’s no misuse of the vehicle.”
The driver also did not hear the train.
The solicitor also told the court his client had been driving for 44 years and did not have any driving-related prior convictions.
He also said the man’s truck driver’s licence had been suspended for medical review.
The magistrate sentenced the truck driver to a 12-month good behaviour bond and a conviction was not recorded.
His licence was also suspended for six months.
“Thank goodness he is still here and no-one else was injured and the train wasn’t derailed,” the magistrate said.
“I accept the circumstances of how this occurred.
“You weren’t racing and trying to beat the train. You didn’t see it.
“And you are previously of good character.”
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