A woman seriously injured when a four tonne, five-by-four metre road sign fell and crushed her car on Melbourne’s Tullamarine freeway last year has launched Supreme Court action against VicRoads, Transurban and construction company CPB Contractors.
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| (Nine News) |
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| Nella Lettieri (photo: Nine News) |
57-year-old Nella Lettieri was on her way to pick up her daughter from Essendon Airport in January 2019 when the accident happened, leaving her with “significant physical injuries and psychological trauma,” according to her lawyers.
An investigation by CPB Contractors found the road sign was missing a steel plate and several safety checks had not been carried out.
VicRoads told Wide Format Online last year that the sign's fall was caused by "progressive fatigue crack" - which was the result of a crucial part not being installed. "CPB Contractors [part of CIMIC Group, formerly Leighton Holdings], who delivered the project, carried out the investigation which has been independently reviewed and verified. It found the sign failure was caused by a progressive fatigue crack due to the omission of a stiffener plate during the fabrication process."
A ‘stiffener plate’ is a steel plate inside the gantry designed to strengthen the connection of the sign structure to the gantry.
"The investigation considered the full design and construct process to understand how the stiffener plate omission occurred," said VicRoads. "It found weaknesses in quality control and that several required inspections were not carried out.
Nine’s The Age newspaper reports that "ten allegations of negligence are claimed against VicRoads and Transurban in a writ filed on November 17, including failing to maintain or inspect roadway signage.
“CPB Contractors, which was responsible for the construction and installation of signage on the Tullamarine Freeway, is also accused of repeated negligence, including failing to adequately design, construct and install the signage, according to the writ,” the report said.
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