An early-morning truck-related collision on South Africa’s busiest road freight artery from the Port of Durban left at least 20 people injured, one of them in a serious condition.
The accident happened when a flatbed truck lost control heading downhill into the Key Ridge dip of the N3 where road works are under way.
Although it’s not certain yet whether the truck was speeding, possible brake failure caused it to plough into about 20 vehicles in front of it.
A spokesperson for ALS Paramedics described the scene at about 8am on the morning of September 4 as “damage and destruction” with overturned cars across the north-bound side of the highway towards Pietermaritzburg.
The southside lane of the highway was blocked off to allow for heli-vac choppers to land and ambulances to safely access the area.
The ALS official said the injuries ranged from minor to serious.
Footage taken on the scene clearly showed the extent of the damage, while one driver remained trapped inside the wreckage of an overturned car.
The accident, caused by what seems to have been a runaway truck, comes within the same week that Dr Juanita Maree, CEO of the South African Association of Freight Forwarders, identified the need for urgently shifting more loads on to the National Corridor (NatCor) rail freight line linking Durban with Gauteng.
She said the NatCor Line, which forms part of Transnet’s third-party rail network access project, allowing for private-sector involvement, was seriously underutilised and in need of urgent independent technical assessment.
Mike Fitzmaurice, chief executive of the Transit Assistance Bureau, said the accident illustrated how unsafe the country’s roads were, specifically high-volume routes.
An expert of the road transport industry, he said it seemed most likely that speeding and brake failure had led to Thursday morning’s carnage on the N3.
The Road Freight Association said it is unaware of the circumstances that gave rise to this horrendous crash in which a heavy freight vehicle was reportedly involved along with some 20 other vehicles.
“Our thoughts and prayers go out to those injured in the crash,” said acting CEO Kevin van der Merwe.
“We urge the KwaZulu-Natal SAPS to conduct a thorough investigation into the crash to determine the cause, and to release their findings as soon as possible.””
