A peak-hour crash on Melbourne’s Bolte Bridge on Friday ended with one of the two drivers clinging to the hood of the other’s moving van as it moved down the highway. The van didn’t stop. The man on its hood eventually came off, and was taken to the hospital with non-life-threatening injuries.
According to the Victoria Police, the encounter began when a Ford van and a Nissan Navara collided on the Bolte Bridge in just before 5 p.m. The two male drivers got out and got into a physical altercation. Then the driver of the Ford got back into his van.
The driver of the Nissan, instead of returning to his own vehicle, grabbed the front of the Ford as it began to drive away. Footage circulated online from the scene shows him gripping the hood of the van with his legs lifted behind him as it travelled down the freeway. At one point on the video, he is seen pulling a windscreen wiper from the vehicle while continuing to face the driver.
Two right lanes of the West Gate Freeway near the entrance to the Burnley Tunnel were closed Friday evening. Rush hour traffic backed up across the road as emergency services responded. The Nissan, with no driver to retrieve it, was left at the scene of the original crash.
What Police Say Happened
According to Victoria Police, the incident began at about 5 p.m. on Friday when a Ford van and a Nissan Navara collided on the Bolte Bridge in South Wharf. Both male occupants got out of their vehicles and were involved in a physical altercation, a Victoria Police spokeswoman said. The driver of the Ford then got back into his vehicle, and while he was driving away the driver of the Nissan began holding onto the van.
Footage shared online shows the Nissan driver gripping the front of the Ford van as it travelled along the M1 West Gate Freeway. His legs were lifted behind him in what appeared to be an effort to keep from being dragged under the vehicle, the reporting said. He was seen yelling at the driver of the van and, at one point, ripped a windscreen wiper from the vehicle while remaining on the hood.
How It Ended
According to Victoria Police, the man on the hood eventually came off the van. He was taken to the hospital with non-life-threatening injuries, the agency said. The Nissan Navara that had been involved in the original Bolte Bridge collision was left at the scene of that crash.
The incident caused significant disruption during peak hour, with two right lanes of the West Gate Freeway near the Burnley Tunnel entrance closed on Friday evening as emergency services worked. Victoria Police said the investigation into the incident is ongoing, and authorities have asked anyone who witnessed it, or who has CCTV or dashcam footage, to contact Crime Stoppers in the area.