Adelaide freeway descent among nation*s most challenging, truck driver warns (ABC)

Days after a double fatality from a truck accident at the bottom of the South Eastern Freeway in Adelaide, a truck driver has warned the road is the most challenging into an Australian capital city.

The ABC joined driver Peter Sharp at Bridgewater in the Adelaide Hills for a tricky descent of the freeway in a 61-tonne B-double vehicle, to see the challenges heavy-vehicle drivers faced daily.

Mr Sharp said he had made the descent countless times in more than 30 years of truck driving, but it was a task he never took for granted.

"You have to respect the fact that it's a steep, long descent," he said.

By law, his B-double must stay in the left lane and there is a speed limit of 60 kilometres per hour, a speed soon to apply for all trucks and buses making the descent.

Mr Sharp said he did not instinctively know how to descend through the Adelaide Hills and relied on good training.

He said for road safety features such as arrester beds to work, they needed to make sense to any driver struggling to control both their vehicle and their panic.

During the drive down the South Eastern Freeway with 7.30 SA, the police presence was clear and there were examples of drivers failing to do the right thing.

He said drivers were keen to see a third arrester bed built, and it needed to be in the area between the up and down tracks of the freeway.

A coronial inquest has started in Adelaide into the two deaths following a tanker crash last Monday.

The South Australian Government also has acted swiftly after the tragedy, announcing speed limit changes on the freeway descent from September 1.

Trucks will face a 60kph limit for the descent and smaller vehicles will see their maximum speed limit cut from 100 kph to 90kph.

The Adelaide Hills descent was a series of dangerous hair-pin bends for many years and saw frequent truck rollovers and other accidents until a much wider, straighter and more gradual descent was built with twin tunnels.

http://au.news.yahoo.com/a/-/latest/24789229/adelaide-freeway-descent-among-nations-most-challenging-truck-driver-warns/