rant to waking up to bad news..
Rant to drink driving. Please think people!
Used to work with one of the guys wives, top lad.
http://www.news.com.au/adelaidenow/story/0,22606,24375225-5006301,00.html TWO mates plunged 6m to their deaths while taking a popular shortcut near Balaklava early yesterday.
The tragedy marked the end of a disastrous week on South Australia's roads, with six people killed.
The pair, aged 28 and 36, died after their silver Toyota utility careered off an elevated road-bridge near the tiny town of Bowmans, about 5km from Balaklava.
The mates – from two well-known farming families in the region – had taken a popular unsealed short-cut when tragedy struck.
Locals said the deaths of the men, one of whom had a young family, would devastate the community.
Police believed neither man was wearing a seat belt when the ute left the road-bridge and slammed into the pylon of an elevated parallel railway bridge before coming to rest on a dry creek bed.
Police believe the crash happened about 2am, but was not discovered until 6.30am by the driver of a passing train.
The pair had been at Balaklava's Royal Hotel hours before the accident and a hotel worker told the Sunday Mail the men had been offered a lift home but chose to drive.
Inspector Tony Crameri, from the police Major Crash section, said police were still investigating whether alcohol was a factor.
"They were using an access road along the railway line; they have driven off the bridge and landed in the dry creek bed," he said.
"It was a service road that they were on; they happened to clip the bridge and go off.
"It is a well known access road to locals, it is used as a short-cut through to Port Wakefield."
Terry Williams, editor of local newspaper The Plains Producer, had taken photographs of the scene before he fought back tears as he spoke about the "devastating impact" of the deaths on the community.
He had seen one of the men a week ago, he said.
"I was only with him last Saturday, it's a bit of a shock, " he said. "I've seen him grow up. (He) was very well known, the family are very well liked."
Another Balaklava resident, who knew the other victim, said the dead's man's father had recently been diagnosed with cancer.
"It will affect a lot of people here, they were great lads; they had loads of friends," he said.
The state road toll is now 69, compared with 83 at the same time last year.
Insp Crameri again urged drivers to obey road rules. "We ask people to slow down and make sure they wear their seat belts," he said. "We are still looking at whether alcohol was a factor in the crash but we ask people not to drink and drive and if they are going to drink, that they have a responsible driver with them."
There are no warning signs on the elevated roadway. But Insp Crameri said police would "make some recommendations, especially for locals who may use it as an access road".