Michael Gorman had driven a car carrier truck on Picton Road hundreds of times.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
But on March 24, 2017 what started out as another normal shift ended in a fiery head-on collision.
The driver of a B-Double veered onto the wrong side of the road just north of the intersection with MacArthur Drive near Wilton at about 5am.
Mr Gorman’s body was found in the burnt-out cabin of his truck once firefighters had extinguished the blaze.
The other driver, Adrian Ryan also died at the scene.
For Mr Gorman’s family, this tragic accident was avoidable – if only there had been concrete barriers dividing the two lanes.
On Wednesday morning, just metres from the original crash scene, another two truck drivers were involved in a head-on collision.
The driver of a Mitsubishi Canter table-top truck died at the scene and the driver of a car carrier was taken to Liverpool Hospital and is in a stable condition.
The eerie similarities in the two crashes has prompted the heartbroken family of Mr Gorman to speak out.
Michael Gorman’s sister Sharon Heyburgh said the family was calling on Roads and Maritime Services to install jersey barriers along the entire length of the notorious road.
Mark Gorman, Michael’s brother, feels now is the time to demand action.
“No one should have to go through the heartache that we go through every day,” Mr Gorman said.
“If the safety barriers save just one life then that will make a difference.”
Mr Gorman’s mother Beverley said her son was a husband, father and brother who lived in Oakdale, was a “genuinely lovely person” and they were a “close family”.
“Another young man was killed on Wednesday,” she said. “His life could have been spared if there had been barriers and his family would not have to go through what we go through.
“Something needs to be done to the road.”
Ms Heyburgh said hearing about another fatality on Picton Road was “triggering” and “traumatic”, especially when the accident occurred so close to her brother’s crash.
“Hearing about a crash is so shocking and takes us straight back to Michael’s crash,” she said.
“People drive along the single road at 100 kilometres per hour and there is nothing in between the oncoming traffic.
“I won’t let my 17-year-old daughter drive on the road.”
Mr Gorman’s parents have and will never drive on Picton Road again.
Mr Gorman’s father Neil said so many motorists used the road including trucks and P-plate drivers and described the road as “totally inadequate”.
He wants jersey barriers to be installed or wire barriers so if a vehicle veers onto the wrong side of the road the impact would be lessened.
“A wire barrier would be better than nothing,” Mrs Gorman said. “Maybe the impact would not be as catastrophic.”
Ms Heyburgh said she would be writing to local state members to advocate for the need for the barriers.
Sunday is World Day of Remembrance for Road Traffic Victims and Mark Gorman said it was a timely reminder to recognise how many deaths had occurred on Picton Road and to call for action to improve safety along the notorious stretch of bitumen.
“There are so many memorials along the road,” Ms Heyburgh said.
Wednesday’s accident was the second fatality on Picton Road in just over a month.
On September 29, Fairy Meadow’s Riana Martelli died when her blue Hyundai Getz left the road and hit a tree.
