A BALLARAT B-double truck driver has been praised by police after he deliberately crashed his vehicle in Hamilton to avoid other cars when his brakes failed.
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Sergeant Rex Habel said the 37-year-old was carting a load of potatoes south on Pope Street just at 4.10pm yesterday when he realised his trailers' brakes were not operating.
The driver was approaching a sharp decline in the road and to avoid traffic he managed to steer between parked vehicles and collide with trees and a light pole.
The light pole fell onto the road and another motorists drove over it causing minor damage to the undercarriage of that vehicle.
The truck come to rest narrowly missing a high voltage electricity transformer.
"The driver made a split-second decision to exit the road when he realised he was rapidly approaching traffic on the decline without brakes to his trailers," Sergeant Habel said.
"It was a masterful piece of driving. No one was injured and there was the potential for a major incident to occur. Police who attended the accident scene found the connections between the air hose brakes and the trailers had blown."
Sergeant Habel said police would take no action against the driver.
