Boat Crash Sparks Call To Light Pylons
Central Coast Herald
Tuesday August 5, 2003
POLICE divers combed the bottom of the Hawkesbury River yesterday to search for the body of a 60-year-old man whose boat crashed into a pylon on the Brooklyn bridge.
The accident, on Sunday night, sparked calls for lights to be fitted to each pylon on the bridge, and the adjacent old Brooklyn bridge.
The man's aluminium boat hit the seventh pylon along the more modern bridge, which forms part of the F3 freeway, about 6.30pm.
Locals say the bridges are hard to navigate at night because of inadequate lighting.
At the time of the accident, the victim was on his way to pick up his car at the Dolphin Boatshed, police said.
He had been working on his Bar Point property at the weekend and was returning to his home at Waverton in Sydney.
Four water police vessels and a police helicopter failed to find the man.
Police divers and the water police resumed the search yesterday.
Marine Area Command Senior Constable Dave Carlin said a water police boat was in the vicinity when the accident happened and was able to get to the boat before it sank.
``It's been hard to do a proper search because the water is very murky and there is zero visibility. We've had to do it by feel," he said.
Dolphin Boatshed owner Richard Frith said the man was an architect who had been building a house at Bar Point, which is accessible by water only.
``He was mainly here on weekends; he bought the property about three years ago," Mr Frith said.
``He dropped his wife off at the station on Saturday and then he went back to clear some bushfire breaks.
``He was on his way back on the Sunday evening when he crashed into the pylon.
``It's a damn shame because he was a really nice fellow."
Brooklyn water taxi operator Justin Pigneguy said it was not the first time the bridge had been the scene of a fatal boating accident.
``I know of at least three other people that have died while trying to navigate the pylons under that bridge," he said.
``The coroner needs to be made aware that people can't see the bridge pylons at night and they need lighting."
A NSW Waterways spokeswoman said fixed red and green marker lights were set up on the southern side of the channel, near where the man crashed.
``It's still under investigation but it is believed the boat was travelling outside of the navigation channel," she said.
``As a guide, people should take their boats on the safest designated route."
She said the coroner would determine whether lights should be installed on all pylons along the two bridges.
Brooklyn fisherman Bill Bradley said there needed to be downlighting on the pylons 24 hours a day.
Mr Pigneguy said cross currents may have dragged the victim's boat against the pylon.
© 2003 Central Coast Herald