CORNER BROOK A transport truck driver from Nova Scotia, not to mention maybe a golfer or two, were lucky not to be seriously hurt when the big rig went crashing over a steep embankment in Corner Brook early Friday afternoon.
The driver, a 52-year-old man from Nova Scotia, lost control of the truck as he entered Corner Brook via Exit 5 from the Trans-Canada Highway in the westbound off-ramp leading to Confederation Drive shortly before 1:30 p.m.
A long stretch of black skid marks showed where the truck went through the stop sign at the bottom of the steep off-ramp, clear across the intersection with Confederation Drive, over a guide rail on the other side and down a steeply pitched, roughly 30-metre incline.
The rig came to an abrupt stop on Crocker's Road below, merely metres away from the green on Hole 17 of the Blomidon Golf and Country Club which was directly in its path. It came even closer to striking a major electricity tower, which remained unscathed about 10 metres to the truck's right.
Looking back up the hill over which it had descended, it was clear the truck also came close to smashing into a set of large boulders that would have likely sent it into a more precarious tumble if they had been struck.
The man was taken to Western Memorial Regional Hospital in Corner Brook for injuries not believed to be serious. Witnesses at the scene said he was shaken up and appeared to be in some pain, but he was alert and seemed to be relatively OK given the nature of the accident.
The truck had been carrying materials to construct a steel quonset hut and a forklift on its flat-bed trailer. Short sections of galvanized corrugated steel and an array of nuts and bolt were scattered about the spilled forklift and the truck and trailer.
Exit 5 and the section of Confederation Drive from the intersection with West Valley Road to the intersection with Crocker's Road and Massey Drive were closed for a short time as the Royal Newfoundland Constabulary conducted its investigation of the accident scene.
The cause of the accident had not yet been determined as of press time. The truck was to be removed Friday evening and a mechanical inspection of it was to be conducted as part of the RNC's ongoing investigation.
