Photo via ABC News (AU)

Woman, 92, who cheated death on Fremantle's old bridge stoked for new crossing

Read the original at ABC News (AU) ↗
Cite

Smith, L., & Gibson, M. (2026, October 31). Woman, 92, who cheated death on Fremantle's old bridge stoked for new crossing. ABC News (AU). https://www.abc.net.au/news/2026-10-31/walyalup-bridge-fremantle-traffic-bridge-to-open-on-sunday/107327960

Dated from the outlet's own feed. Check the original for its byline.

ABC News (AU) · collected 2026-10-31 · by Lauren Smith, Mark Gibson

Quick Summary

Jan Middleton, now 92, who survived a deadly plunge off the old Fremantle Traffic Bridge in 1956 when she was just 22, will walk across the new Walyalup Bridge upon its opening this Sunday. The project, originally estimated at $230 million but now costing $596 million, is completed four months ahead of schedule. The new bridge features wider pedestrian paths and higher clearance for boats, marking a significant upgrade from its predecessors built in the mid-1800s and 1939.
Written by AI on 2026-11-01, from this article's own text only (the story summary below draws on all the coverage).

Story

📰 Woman Survived Fremantle Bridge Collapse
Crime & Law · 1 article(s) covering the same event.

Compared with similar articles

Nothing to compare against. No article is close enough to this one for the pipeline to have linked or judged the pair.
How this article was measured signals, leaning charts, publisher record, byline, topics and claims

Signals How these are calculated →

Claims extracted
15
sentences that state something as happening or true
Uncertain
0%
0 of 15 hedged ("reportedly", "may", "according to")
Leaning
not political
takes no side on a contested political question
Publisher signals
68/100
ABC News (AU)'s corrections and hedging, across everything collected from it. Not a measure of accuracy.
Outlets on this story
1
Crime & Law
Same framing elsewhere
1
articles that frame the event the way this one does
Analyzed 2026-11-01 · how these are computed

How this is being covered How these are calculated →

Article leaning vs. publisher reliability
Source leaning vs. consistency

Publisher

ABC News (AU) · 4535 article(s) · 10 correction(s) detected
Running correction rate · 10 correction(s)

Who wrote this

Lauren Smith
7 article(s) here · 1 carrying a prediction
🔮 Now aged 92, Ms Middleton will be among the first to walk across the new Fremantle Traffic Bridge, officially named Walyalup Bridge, when it opens on Sunday, four months ahead of schedule.
🔮 Ms Fischer said the idea was struck over a coffee with friends, after someone questioned who might have held such a record.
🔮 Aerial vision from the scene shows the front of a white sedan had been ripped off before the car eventually came to a standstill in the westbound lanes of South St. The car's engine was ejected in the smash, landing 50 metres away on the opposite side of the six-lane road. Another black van 90 metres further down the road has a smashed windscreen and a metal road sign lodged in its bonnet. Debris could be seen scattered through all lanes of traffic on South Street, which was closed westbound between Vahland Ave and Darian Drive. Drivers were advised to seek an alternative route as police directed traffic at the busy intersection. Neighbourhood 'shaken' Jessica Humble said she heard what sounded like "a really bad crash" as she was leaving her home around 11am. "I just heard loads of police sirens, and then all of a sudden it was just like bang bang bang, really loud," she said.
🔮 WARNING: This story contains details that may distress some readers.
🔮 "When I lost my job we could no longer afford the $700-a-week rent," she said. "
Also by Lauren Smith
Nothing else under this byline is closely related to this article, so these are simply their most recent.
All 7 articles by Lauren Smith →
Mark Gibson
1 article(s) here · 1 carrying a prediction
🔮 Now aged 92, Ms Middleton will be among the first to walk across the new Fremantle Traffic Bridge, officially named Walyalup Bridge, when it opens on Sunday, four months ahead of schedule.
The only article under this byline in the corpus.

Topics

Australia Fremantle SmartRider

Subjects

Middleton PERSON · 5× Australia GPE · 1× Barbara Shimmon PERSON · 1× Fremantle GPE · 1× Jan Middleton PERSON · 1× Thelma Davies PERSON · 1×

Narrative

The 86-year-old wooden bridge was closed in February to allow for the construction of the new bridge, which was expected to take 12 months. But while the project is ahead of schedule, the final price tag has more than doubled from the initial cost announced in 2021 of $230 million, now coming in at $596m. Traffic authorities warned of potentially significant delays, prompting the government to consider limiting truck movements across the Stirling Bridge at peak hour to limit traffic congestion. Authorities implemented several changes to the local transport network to accommodate the closure, including additional train and bus services, more free parking bays for SmartRider users and increased monitoring of traffic via CCTV.
framing: assertive · carried by 1 article(s) · first seen 2026-11-01
🔮 Now aged 92, Ms Middleton will be among the first to walk across the new Fremantle Traffic Bridge, officially named Walyalup Bridge, when it opens on Sunday, four months ahead of schedule.

Claims (15 extracted, 0 hedged)

It's been 70 years since Jan Middleton and her two colleagues survived a dramatic plunge off the old Fremantle Traffic Bridge, their car plummeting 10 metres to land on its roof. asserted
car → survive → roof
It was 1956 and Ms Middleton, then 22, was giving her co-worker, Barbara Shimmon, a driving lesson during their lunch break. asserted
Middleton → give → break
Their colleague Thelma Davies decided to tag along, eating her lunch in the back seat as the trio headed towards Fremantle from Mosman Park. asserted
trio → decide → Park
"As we approached the bridge, it was sprinkling rain and we hit a bit of wet oil in the road," Ms Middleton said. asserted
Middleton → approach → road
"We did two complete circles in the middle of the road, slewed across [and] hit one of the cement pillars." asserted
We → do → pillars
Ms Middleton said the car flipped backwards off the bridge. asserted
car → say → bridge
"We teetered on the side before over we went and landed on the hood," she said. asserted
she → teeter → hood
"I recall feeling disappointed, because I knew I was going to die. asserted
I → recall → ?
After that I gave up teaching friends to drive. asserted
I → give → friends
Astonishingly, all three women escaped the wreck without serious injury. asserted
women → escape → injury
"For the next week to go to work, we all took cushions because our bones were bruised, but apart from that, we were fine," Ms Middleton said. asserted
Middleton → go → that
Now aged 92, Ms Middleton will be among the first to walk across the new Fremantle Traffic Bridge, officially named Walyalup Bridge, when it opens on Sunday, four months ahead of schedule. asserted
it → walk → schedule
The 86-year-old wooden bridge was closed in February to allow for the construction of the new bridge, which was expected to take 12 months. But while the project is ahead of schedule, the final price tag has more than doubled from the initial cost announced in 2021 of $230 million, now coming in at $596m. Traffic authorities warned of potentially significant delays, prompting the government to consider limiting truck movements across the Stirling Bridge at peak hour to limit traffic congestion. Authorities implemented several changes to the local transport network to accommodate the closure, including additional train and bus services, more free parking bays for SmartRider users and increased monitoring of traffic via CCTV. asserted
Authorities → close → CCTV
The new, 500-metre bridge has the same number of traffic lanes but wider pedestrian paths and a higher clearance for boats and is the first "extradosed" bridge to be built in Australia, combining both cantilevers and cable stay supports. asserted
bridge → have → cantilevers
The first was built by convicts in the mid 1800s and the second opened in 1939. asserted
second → build → 1939
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