An Australian man who tried to hitchhike home under a tractor-trailer after a night of drinking ended up almost 400 kilometers away after his plan went awry.
The 43-year-old man, whom police did not identify, was lucky to survive a dangerous journey in which he traveled hundreds of kilometers on metal racks suspended about three feet above the pavement, according to ABC News in Australia.
Rig driver Pardeep Dahiya told the outlet he was transporting cargo from Sydney to Brisbane when he stopped around 1.30am last Friday to take a short nap.
After an hour he started up again and realized that something was not quite right.
“As it started to get light, I could see in my mirrors a piece of orange fabric under my trailer,” he said.
He finally stopped to check out the strange waving material, and that’s when he saw the man climbing down from the metal grates stored beneath the truck, ABC said.
“When I saw that, I took two steps back and thought, ‘What is that?’” Dahiya said. “That’s very different for me. “It’s very new…I can’t imagine anyone getting under the trailer.”
Pardeep Dahiya shows the camera where a man reportedly hid for hundreds of miles during a trip along the Australian coast. ABC Gold Coast The bars are suspended just a few meters from the pavement. ABC Costa Dorada
The astonished driver took pity on the windswept man and let him climb into the cabin for a while. But finally, Dahiya decided to call the police from a gas station.
The man told officers he had climbed over the bars in hopes of being able to quickly return home. When he approached, he planned to get off at a red light, according to the outlet.
But the driver ruined his plans when he didn’t stop for almost 250 miles, leaving the man a little further from home than he wanted, according to Acting Inspector Peter Miles.
The unidentified 43-year-old man, who authorities believe was drunk at the time, was lucky to be alive. ABC Costa Dorada
Authorities fined him $288 and then took him to a train station for the long return trip.
“The trucker had a good career,” Miles said. “The old friend didn’t do it.”
But it could have been much worse, according to Queensland Truckers Association chief executive Gary Mahon.
“You travel between 90 and 100 kilometers per hour. [about 60 mph] pretty consistently, and it wouldn’t take a big slip or a lack of concentration to have fatal consequences,” he told ABC.
Any small mistake could have been fatal for the man, as the trailer was probably moving at around 60 miles per hour the entire time. ABC Costa Dorada
“There are bumps in the road, objects potentially flying around and hitting you, the types of speeds involved, side wind shear and all those forces that could have affected [his] grip,” Mahon added.
“He is an extremely lucky person to have traveled [that far] and still be fine in the end.”
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Source: vtt.edu.vn