A Townsville truckie was given the fright of his life when a piece of concrete was hurled at his windscreen as he was travelling along the Bruce Highway.
A truck driver for about 15 years, Kurt Hutton currently does the daily run from Townsville to Cairns, pulling semis and B-doubles and carrying various freight.
At 12.50am on Tuesday January 14, the windscreen of Kurt’s truck was hit by a chunk of concrete, while travelling through an overpass at Saunders Creek.
“I was just cruising along and all of a sudden I was covered in glass,” he said, adding that it gave him quite the fright, as he didn’t see it coming.
As can be seen by photos taken following the incident, the piece of concrete hit the windscreen on the driver’s side, but thankfully it didn’t go all the way through.
“Luckily the glass was laminated,” said Kurt. “The glass on the inside is what hit me. I just had little cuts over my face and a couple of pieces of glass in my eye that had to get taken out at hospital, but it was nothing serious,” he revealed.
“A lot of it was really fine glass. If it was bigger chunks, it would have been a lot worse. I always drive with the window down too, so it could have got me in the head. I reckon if they hit a car, it probably would have gone right through.
“I was in shock when it hit – I just wasn’t expecting to be sprayed with glass.”
Kurt says he continued on for about 1500 metres and pulled over further up the road, when he came across police lights.
“When the cop checked me over, I had fine glass all over my face, so they called the ambulance, which brought me to Townsville Hospital.
“The cops told me that two other truckies supposedly got hit that same morning, so police were looking for them. The coppers said they believed the culprits were targeting trucks. It’s just such a senseless crime.
“Police had the dog squad with them and were looking for them – but if they’re on push bikes, they can disappear pretty quickly.”
Queensland Police confirmed it had conducted extensive patrols of the surrounding area but had not been able to locate any suspects.
Kurt told Big Rigs that since the incident, he’s being extra cautious along that stretch of road. “It’s an 80km/h zone, but I’ve been slowing to about 30 kilometres as I approach that bridge now,” he said. “I pass through there every day on my way out of town.”
Police are appealing for anyone with information, dashcam or CCTV footage to contact CrimeStoppers on 1800 333 000.