an embankment in Gippsland last night. The 29-year-old man and another man, also 29,

were riding a road roller - used to flatten earth - when it fell down a steep

embankment off the Mount Baw Baw Road in the Alpine village of Tanjil Bren, Gippsland,

just after 9pm. Sergeant Darren Marsham from Warragul said it appeared the men had

stolen the roller from a VicRoads depot where roadworks equipment was stored. "They

drove about one kilometre from the depot before falling about 40 metres down the

embankment in the dark," Sergeant Marsham said. Paramedics were called to the scene

about 9.30pm but one man was already dead, while the other received minor injuries.

Sergeant Marsham said the injured man was questioned by police but released

pending further inquiries. He described the accident as stupid saying a life

had been wasted. Both men were believed to be from Melbourne.

Both men were believed to be from Melbourne.

Submitted on 11/19/2006

Submitted by: Arnold Norris
Reference: theage.com.au, with AAP

Copyright © 2006 DarwinAwards.com

James said:
Neutral: Darwin Award
I'm very neutral on this one. The article could be better, but in the end one doesn't hear of folks taking steamrollers for joy rides every day! I'll bet it really ROLLED down the embankment, too! I'll vote DA because it's not an everyday event and because a steamroller is an extremely dangerous bit of equipment in the wrong hands! BTW both casualties were active participants, so neither is a bystander, IMO! Thanks, Arnold!

Graham said:
Neutral: Darwin Award
I wonder if these fools flipped over the roller because they had no clue how to steer it? No innocent bystanders so it is worthy of some recognition.

Jack said:
Neutral: Darwin Award
Ok, that answers the "bystander" question. I'll go for a DA (although I'd rather have a better write up.)

Shadow said:
Neutral: Darwin Award
For me, I just saw this one with the link from "Tony". This is a better submission of the same story. But he almost copied and pasted the article... The second participant in the article was 24 and yeah not a bystander. So the lack of judgement by driver and passenger are definately Darwin.. just needs an original write up.

Chip said:
Neutral: Darwin Award
I'll go along with the other moderators on this one. All the information is there for a genuine DA but the write up could have been better.

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