Eyre Highway truck crash: Why Neville Mugridge’s widow is calling for change after horror crash claimed three lives

A heartbroken widow has broken her silence to call for better training for heavy vehicle drivers after a horror crash claimed the lives of her husband and two other truck drivers.

Delphine Mugridge’s 77-year-old husband, Neville, was a beloved truck driver who was killed in a head-on collision between his truck and another on the edge of the Nullarbor Plain on South Australia’s Eyre Highway on April 4.

Victorian truck driver Yadwinder Singh Bhatti and another 25-year-old NSW man were also killed in the crash.

Mrs. Mugridge has one petition a call for truck drivers to have more experience to be eligible to drive large rigs.

“Ultimately, I think the best thing would be an internship or internship,” Ms. Mugridge said Nine news.

The grieving widow is still struggling to come to terms with what happened to her husband.

“Sometimes I think, ‘Oh, he’s just coming home, he’s too good of a driver,'” she said.

“Other times I realize he’s not coming home.”

Mrs Mudgidge described her late husband as a loyal father and grandfather and a legend to other truck drivers.

Nicknamed Slim, he left behind twenty children, stepchildren and grandchildren.

“He was very compassionate,” his wife recalled.

“If you had him as a friend, you had him for life.”

She launched the petition on Thursday, which had already collected 3,000 signatures by the next evening.

Mrs Mugridge says her husband’s death has seriously shaken the entire trucking industry.

She said the tragedy has “generated a huge response from all truck drivers across Australia, outlining the dangerous activities of some drivers on the road.”

“A large number of drivers are considering hanging up their boots and wondering who will die next,” the petition said.

‘Inexperienced drivers far too often cause near misses and fatal accidents.’

Ms Mugridge has called on drivers to prove they have each held a normal car, light and medium class C license for one year before obtaining a heavy vehicle licence.

For heavy and multiple truck driving licenses, she also wants demonstrable driving experience in lower categories.

Affectionately known as ‘Slim’, Mr Mugridge was a legend in the Australian trucking industry

The fiery crash on a remote part of the Eyre Highway that ended Mr Mugridge’s life along with two others

“This will ensure that foreign drivers can no longer enter Australia or obtain a heavy vehicle license without following the above guidelines, making the roads safer for everyone traveling on and off the highways,” she wrote.

The petition has the support of Steve Shearer, executive director of the SA Road Transport Association.

“I think one benefit of the petition could be to put pressure on governments to get off their asses,” he told Nine News.

“What we talked about here in Canberra at the national conference is much more extensive and will be based on experience.”

Mr Mugridge’s funeral will take place in Gawler next Friday.

Neville (right) is survived by wife Delphine (left), along with 20 children, stepchildren and grandchildren