Concerned truck drivers are worried the continuous rock-throwing at the Moree bypass will result in tragedy if something is not done to stop it soon.
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Neil Rowe, an interstate truck driver based out of Leeton, drives through Moree twice a week, sometimes four times, and said the rock-throwing is a regular occurance.
In the past week or so, Mr Rowe said he is aware of eight instances of trucks being hit by rocks along the Moree bypass.
The latest was Sunday evening when a rock hit a truck. The night before, six trucks were hit.
Last Wednesday, Mr Rowe was travelling along the bypass at 3pm in the afternoon when a teenager stood in the road in front of him.
“A 14 to 16-year-old stood in my way with his legs spread and arms up indicating me to stop,” he said.
“They then rocked the two trucks behind me.”
Someone's going to die. At this stage we've been lucky with only stitches to the head.
- Neil Rowe, interstate truck driver
Fellow truck driver, Andrew Myers knows all too well the damage rocks can cause after one went through his windscreen and hit him in the forehead while he was driving through Moree at 4am on Saturday, October 8.
Mr Myers recalls three teenagers coming out of the dark and running onto the road before they each hurled rocks at his truck.
One went through his windscreen, another broke the right-hand wind deflector and a third rock hit the body of the truck.
He ended up with six stitches in his forehead.
While Mr Myers doesn’t regularly drive through Moree, he said he is now very weary of coming this way and avoids sending his other drivers here.
“I try very hard not to be there after dark and I know other truck drivers who try to plan their trip around it,” he said.
“If I had a driver in a truck, I wouldn’t send him through Moree in the dark. I wouldn’t send him through Moree full stop. Moree is in a danger spot.”
Mr Rowe agreed.
“Moree, in my opinion, is probably the worst place [for rock-throwing],” he said.
Mr Rowe and Mr Myers are not the only truck drivers who have had enough of the issue.
Others are now threatening to drive through town instead of along the bypass until something is done about the issue.
“I’m very angry,” Mr Myers said. “The fact that it’s still occurring is very disappointing. [The perpetrators] have got no care and no fear.”
If nothing is done, truck drivers fear the worst.
“Someone’s going to die,” Mr Rowe said. “At this stage we’ve been lucky with only stitches to the head.”
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