A Mangoplah resident who was first on scene at a horrific truck rollover at the weekend is again calling for upgrades to Holbrook Road, which he says is "no longer fit for purpose".
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On Sunday a man in his 30s was taken to Wagga Base Hospital in a serious but stable condition after a truck rollover on Holbrook Road, located about 40 kilometres south of Wagga.
Paul Cocking and his wife were following the truck in their car and witnessed the rollover first-hand, ringing emergency services right away and jumping in the truck to help the injured man, who was later freed from the truck.
Mr Cocking said being first on scene is "hard to handle" and quite a frightening experience - made even harder by the fact the truck driver is a local.
"It's just very disappointing because the road is not up to standard and I don't want to speculate on what happened, but there's no doubt the road has contributed to the crash," he said.
In October and November, a truck driver in his 40s and a six-year-old boy were both killed in separate crashes along the stretch of road.
Mr Cocking has owned properties in Mangoplah for two decades and lived on the main road for roughly seven years now. In this time, he said there has been a massive increase in traffic.
"There is traffic all day and all night now," he said.
"It's no longer fit for purpose for the amount of traffic on it."
Mr Cocking said the road has become a main thoroughfare between Wagga and Albury, with people also using it to travel to and from Melbourne now that the Hume Highway has been connected.
He is particularly concerned about the section of the road between Mangoplah and Holbrook, describing it as uneven and narrow, with quick angles that even locals struggle to drive.
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"There have been a few deaths and two or three crashes on this five, six kilometre stretch in the last few months," Mr Cocking said.
"It's going to take a long time to fix, but it's got to start.
"You can't just resurface it and not change anything, it's a joke and that's all that's really happening."
Mr Cocking said his thoughts are with the man injured at the weekend and his family, as well as the local first responders.
"It's tragic for the families involved, and for all us locals ... it shouldn't be happening," he said.
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