An Australian man who tried to hitch a ride home under a tractor trailer after a night of drinking ended up nearly 250 miles away after his plan went awry.
The 43-year-old man – who has not been identified by police – was lucky to survive the perilous journey where he rode hundreds of miles on a metal rack hanging about three feet above the pavement, according to Australia’s ABC News.
The rig’s driver, Pardeep Dahiya, told the outlet he was running a transport from Sydney to Brisbane when he stopped at about 1.30am last Friday to take a nap.
He left again about an hour later and realized something wasn’t right.
“When it started to get light, I could see in my mirror a piece of orange cloth under my trailer,” he said.
He finally stopped to look at the strange flapping material – and that’s when he saw the man climbing over a metal grate stored under the truck, ABC said.
“When I saw that I took two steps back thinking, ‘What is that?’,” said Dahiya. “That was very different for me. It’s so new … I can’t imagine anyone getting under that trailer.”
Pardeep Dahiya showed a camera where a man reportedly hid for hundreds of miles during a trip along the Australian coast. ABC Gold Coast Trench is suspended just a few feet above the pavement. ABC Gold Coast
The shocked driver took pity on the man and let him ride in the cab for a while. But finally, Dahiya decided to call the police from the service station.
The man told the officer that he had climbed over the grate, hoping he could get a short ride home. When he got close, he planned to stop at a red light, according to the store.
But the driver threw a wrench in his plan when he didn’t stop for nearly 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 – is lucky to be alive. ABC Gold Coast
The authorities fined him $288, then gave him a lift to the train station for the long journey back.
“The truck had a good run,” Miles said. “The old couple doesn’t.”
But it could be worse, according to Queensland Trucking Association chief executive Gary Mahon.
“You travel somewhere between 90 and 100 kilometers per hour [about 60 mph] on a fairly consistent basis, and it wouldn’t take many slips or lapses of focus to have fatal consequences,” he told the ABC.
Any small mistake could have been fatal for the man, as the tractor trailer was likely traveling at around 60 miles per hour at all times. ABC Gold Coast
“There are bumps in the road, objects that can potentially fly and hit you, the kind of speeds involved, cross wind shear and all the forces that might affect [his] grip,” added Mahon.
“He is a very lucky person to have traveled [that far] and still be fine in the end.”
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Source: thtrangdai.edu.vn/en/
