The truck driver whose rig plunged off one Auckland motorway and onto another is still trying to work out how it happened.
Brendon Greig is expected to be discharged from hospital tomorrow after a crash that paralysed inner-Auckland for nine hours.
"[It was] lucky for everybody," says Mr Greig. "If it had of been peak hour on a weekday, even 5am in the morning during the week, it could've been a major disaster.
"When you look at it, you wonder how you could survive, especially when you see all the damage to the truck."
The 47-year-old was halfway through his early-morning drive from Hamilton to Whangarei when his Regal Haulage fertiliser truck catapulted off the northbound flyover in inner-city Auckland at dawn.
The 15-metre plunge onto the lower motorway is a blur for Mr Greig, who fractured his vertebrae.
"I was a bit dazed," says Mr Greig. "I looked up and I think there was an ambulance officer standing by the door. They popped the door open and I hopped out."
Investigators are yet to determine why the big rig left the road; doctors have ruled out a medical condition.
"I put my tooth through my lip and the fracture the specialist says is not really bad, but it's pretty scary when you see the pictures."
The lucky-truckie will be out of hospital tomorrow once he's fitted with a back brace.
He admits he's bracing for a bit of a ribbing when he returns to work in about six weeks' time.
3 News
source: newshub archive
