[Pietermaritzburg 06 November 2011 15:30 – 16:30]
12 adults and 2 young children were lucky to have come out of 3 separate accidents, with only minor injuries, in the Pietermaritzburg area this afternoon.
The first incident happened at around 15:30 on Meyereswalk Road in Presberry, where a VW Citi Golf collided into the back of a double cab colt bakkie. There were 4 people sitting on the back at the time, and they were all flung off onto the road after the impact. Fortunately they had not sustained any significant injuries, and they were treated for minor scrapes and abrasions. They did not require any further medical attention and they left the scene along with the driver of the bakkie with private transport. The driver of the Golf was also left uninjured.
Shortly before 16:00, paramedics were called out to the N3 South at the Merryvale off ramp. A VW Polo with 2 occupants had crashed solidly into the back of a tanker truck. The Polo spun around and again crashed into the truck, thereby sustaining quite extensive damage to the back and front of the car. The two men in the car, although shaken, were not injured in the accident and they refused to go to hospital with the ambulance. The driver and only occupant of the tanker was left with no injuries.
At around 16:30, there were reports of another truck accident on the N3. Paramedics from the Pietermaritzburg base rushed to the scene to find that an Opel Kadett had driven into the back of a large container truck in the northerly direction between Umlaas and Linfieldpark. A family of 4 were in the Opel at the time. The dad, 18 month old and 6 year old girls had sustained minor injuries to their faces in the form of cuts and bruises, while the mom who was in the front passenger seat suffered cuts to her knee. They had been lucky to have come out of the accident almost injury free, and they too requested to leave the scene using private transport. The driver of the truck was uninjured.
Paramedics in the area with to encourage motorists on the roads to drive slower and obey all rules of the road. The roads are wet and driving conditions are not optimal, increasing the chance of being involved in an accident.
Vanessa Jackson, ER24
