Truck driver charged with reckless driving after shocking footage emerges of fuel tanker on Albany Highway

A truck driver allegedly captured on video veering on to the wrong side of Albany Highway in a fuel tanker has been charged with reckless driving. Vision emerged last week of a fuel tanker swerving across a busy Albany Highway, near Albany, and nearly crashing head-on into incoming traffic. The footage includes several near-misses, including one particularly close shave with a vehicle towing a caravan. It was captured by a motorist who was following the tanker on Monday, October 12 — the final day of the school holidays. Police confirmed this week a 39-year-old Perth truck driver would face court on a charge of reckless driving. A witness to the alleged incident told Seven News last week the truck was all over the road. “Shocked, scared, worried about the other road users and ourselves, so yeah it was quite frightening for all of us,” the witness said. The witness said they called the trucking company multiple times to alert them to the erratic driving. The vision drew the attention of WA Police Minister Michelle Roberts last week who described it as concerning, especially given the high number of families travelling on the highway. “(The driver) could have wiped out a family heading in the other direction, and had to live with that consequence,” Ms Roberts told Seven News last week. “It indicates that the driver is either driving tired or distracted for some reason.” Great Southern traffic Acting Sergeant David Johnston said the incident was not reported to police immediately. “It has now been investigated and the (alleged) driver charged,” Acting Sgt Johnston said. “It was reported eventually but if the public see something like that happening they need to call triple-0 immediately. “These people tried to do the right thing but the company can’t always deal with an incident like that immediately like we can.” Acting Sgt Johnston said it was lucky no one was seriously hurt. “It’s pretty scary footage,” he said. “For life-threatening situations people need to call triple-0, and it’s hard to look at that footage and not see that.”