Truckie charged over fatal crash told police he couldn't remember what happened

Peter Buckley, 61, of Mount Gambier, is appearing in the Warrnambool County Court charged with 10 offences - culpable driving causing death, dangerous driving causing death and four counts of negligently causing serious injury and the four alternate charges of dangerous driving causing serious injury.

The charges relate to a fatal collision on the Portland-Nelson Road near the intersection of Westlakes Road about 2.30pm on March 14, 2018.

A court heard Mr Buckley was driving a fully-loaded log truck south on the Portland-Nelson Road when it collided into three stationary vehicles at roadworks, killing a 57-year-old woman from the United Kingdom and seriously injuring four other people.

On Wednesday the jury watched the man's record of interview with police the day after the fatal crash.

Mr Buckley told a detective that he woke at 2.30am on the day of the incident, left Mt Gambier for work at 3am and would have arrived at Portland after 2pm.

He said he recalled taking his foot off the accelerator as he approached a rise in the Portland-Nelson Road.

The next thing he said he remembered was standing next to his truck, attempting to unload it.

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Mr Buckley said he observed vehicles ahead of him that were "a mess".

"It looked like a white one had gone up the back of another one," he said.

"I presumed they'd collided. There were police officers there talking to me, I didn't really look. I was just in shock."

Mr Buckley agreed he had a gap in his memory, stating he could not remember what happened after he approached the rise in the road but would "love to know".

He said he'd been driving trucks for 20 years and had a special certificate allowing him to drive for periods longer than 12 hours.

He said he did not believe there were any issues with the prime mover he was driving.

Towards the end of the hour-long police interview, Mr Buckley broke down in tears, stating he didn't know what happened and that he was sorry.

"I regard myself as a professional driver. I know nothing about the actual collision," he said.

"I wish I could help. I seriously do."

Mr Buckley told police he was prescribed Sodium Valproate about 15 to 20 years ago after having "feelings of déjà vu" following a head injury and was required to see a specialist every 12 months in order to continue driving.

Sodium Valporate is known to be used in the prevention of seizures.

Earlier in the trial, Mr Buckley's former partner told the court that the man did not always take his medication.

"Peter took them when Peter wanted to take them. Peter didn't want to take them and he didn't," she said.

The jury previously heard another driver travelling behind Mr Buckley in the lead up to the crash observed the truck merging onto the wrong side of the road.

That witness told police he used his truck radio in an attempt to contact the accused man but did not receive a response.

During the police interview heard on Wednesday, Mr Buckley said he could not recall a vehicle travelling behind him and that he often "straddled" white dividing lines in order to avoid dangerous road conditions.

He said parts of the Portland-Nelson Road were "pretty rough" and he often moved onto the wrong side of the road to avoid patches of the bitumen that appeared "ploughed".

In his final address on Wednesday, crown prosecutor David Cordy told the jury Mr Buckley was a "professional experienced truck driver" who continued to drive while knowing he had blackouts that were increasing in regularity.

He said Mr Buckley failed to disclose the blackouts to treating doctors and licensing bodies because he knew his licence would be suspended.

"He knew he wouldn't have been permitted to drive because of the very real risk of the blackout causing the very sort of catastrophic consequences which it did on the 14^th of March," Mr Cordy said.

"(Mr Buckley's former partner) told him that if he kept it up he was going to kill somebody and well, sadly for everybody she was dead right."

Mr Buckley's barrister Michael Turner will provide his closing statements to the jury on Thursday.

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