Susie Smith knew instinctively her partner Drew Cullen was never coming home.
Ms Smith was feeding their daughter Tahlia, 16 months, in the family's Engadine home when images of a horror crash on Heathcote Road flashed on the TV.
While the details of two small vehicles involved in a collision with a truck were unclear, "I knew straight away it was Drew", she said.
"I kept calling his mobile, but it just rang out."
Ms Smith spoke to the Leader to support calls for safety measures to be implemented urgently on the Woronora River bridge and its approaches until a promised major upgrade takes place.
Mr Cullen, 39, an off-duty Fire and Rescue NSW officer, died at the scene when the utility he was driving was crushed by the truck on August 11.
Ms Smith, 35, a senior teacher at Endeavour Sports High School, Caringbah, said police crash investigators had not yet advised her of their findings.
"They said it could take a while," she said.
"All I have heard is a TV news report which said police believed it could have been caused by the truck going too fast and bad road design.
"Drew drove Heathcote Road all the time.
"He was a very safe driver, and he would have been even more careful that day because he was towing a trailer."
Ms Smith said Mr Cullen bought the utility less than a week earlier because his older model couldn't be fitted with a baby seat.
"Something definitely needs to be done quickly to make the bridge safer," she said.
"It is so narrow there is nowhere to go if a truck or car, coming towards you, crosses the centre line.
"I don't think the 70km/h speed limit is too fast; the issue is that people don't keep to it."
Ms Smith said she thought a fixed speed camera would make a big difference.
"It would make drivers more attentive and remind them of the danger," she said.
"In the longer term, the bridge needs to be widened or replaced, as is happening at Deadmans Creek.
"There are other dangerous sections along Heathcote Road that also need to be fixed.
"It's an old road, built by the military during World War II, and is not designed for the sort of traffic and speeds we see today."
‘‘You know it’s dangerous, but you don’t question it until something happens,’’ she said.
‘‘I have seen some crazy things happen on it, such as people overtaking on double lines.’’
She said she would never drive there again.
Drew Cullen was returning home after doing a landscaping job at Beverly Hills for a friend when the accident occurred.
‘‘He did a lot of jobs for mates,’’ Ms Smith said.
‘‘Drew was a landscaper by trade and then worked for Qantas as a baggage service allocator [co-ordinator] before joining Fire and Rescue NSW two-and-a-half years ago.
‘‘He had been trying to get into the fire service since he was 21.’’
Mr Cullen grew up at Menai and Ms Cullen at Engadine.
They met through friends 4 years ago and bought a home in Engadine in 2013.
Ms Smith said she was grateful for the tremendous support she had received from both their families, friends and work colleagues.
She thanked fire officers, teachers and students at Endeavour Sports High School, and at Jannali High School where she once taught.
