Driver's ‘close shave with death'

Ron Newbould says he is lucky to be alive after a close shave with a truck.

Rodney Stevens

RON Newbould considered himself to be the luckiest man alive in Yamba yesterday after a close shave with a truck on the Pacific Hwy in torrential rain during Tuesday afternoon's ferocious storms left him centimetres from possible death.

The 93-year-old said about 4.15pm on his way home to Yamba from Grafton he was driving along the highway near Tyndale when an oncoming truck side-swiped his driver's side mirror, causing more than $1000 of damage.

Yesterday Mr Newbould's white Toyota Camry bore the scars of the encounter, with paint scraped off the front guard indicating how close he came to a potentially fatal collision.

Still visibly shaken but fortunate to be alive, Mr Newbould said he went and bought a Lotto ticket yesterday morning, hoping for a big win due to his current streak of luck.

He said with visibility almost zero he was driving extremely cautiously and the truck must have crossed the double lines to hit his car.

"I couldn't see from the spray from all of the trucks passing me and then all of a sudden I heard a bang and I thought this was the end; I thought I am going to die with my boots on," Mr Newbould said.

"If it had been another inch on my side of the road I would have been gone...I would have been cut in two. I was very, very lucky."

Mr Newbould said he hoped this incident would draw attention to the dangers of the Pacific Hwy due to the number of trucks that travel the road.

"It is a very, very dangerous road and the trucks drive along at 100kmh so close to cars.

"At that speed trucks nearly blow you off the road.

After Tuesday afternoon's incident, Mr Newbould said he has changed his driving habits on the highway.

"I will never ever drive on the highway in the rain again."