The case of water truck driver Peter Lafferty and his close shave with serious injury in a truck crash has served as a dramatic example of how inattention to speed advisory signs and distracted driving in a heavy vehicle can have major consequences.
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Mr Lafferty was driving his water truck on a slip lane on the intersection of Coulter Drive and William Hovell Drive on October 17, 2019.
Water trucks have internally baffled tanks but generally the baffles are only designed to prevent water moving forward and backward, not sideways. When cornering, tonnes of water can slosh from one side of the tank to the other, creating a major shift in the vehicle's centre of gravity.
Experts in the field of truck driver training advise how with every increase in advisory speed, the forces acting on a heavy vehicle to overturn multiply.
Combine that load shift risk with inattention and dangerous driving and Mr Lafferty found himself in all sorts of bother, and facing court on a number of charges.
The ACT Magistrates Court was told CCTV footage from the cabin of the truck showed the defendant frequently fidgeting, eating, making a call with the mobile phone on his lap and steering with his forearms.
The ACT Policing major crash investigation team established the truck flipped on its side after it entered the turn at 65km/h, which was 20km/h over the 45km/h advisory sign.
The magistrate found Mr Lafferty had driven in a dangerous manner and imposed a fine of $1500.
He was also disqualified from driving for three months.
A further issue at the hearing was the presence of methylamphetamine in Lafferty's mandatory post-crash blood test.
Mr Lafferty gave evidence he had not consumed methylamphetamine since 2008 and had been drug tested multiple times for work, with only negative results.
The defendant admitted to being in the presence of methylamphetamine being consumed but evidence before the court suggested passive smoking was unlikely to be the source of methylamphetamine in his blood.
Nonetheless, the magistrate was satisfied the defence was made and the defendant was found not criminally responsible for having methylamphetamine in his blood.
The offender pleaded guilty to driving while using a handheld mobile phone and was fined $470.
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