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Past Issues

August 2005

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Summertime in South Africa is a dangerous season for road users. The rain pelts down, the roads get slippery, the December holidays bring greater volumes of traffic on our national roads and the festive season pours hordes of drinkers behind their steering wheels. When one considers winter time on our roads, one imagines the odd bit of ice or snow here and there with not much else to pose an 'out-of-the-ordinary' threat to road safety. How wrong this is! A recent report of an accident on the N12 suggests that winter may be even 'sillier' than summer' and highlights the need for drivers to exhibit extreme caution and slow down their speed when they come into foggy or misty conditions writes Paul Collings.

The N12 between Mpumalanga and Gauteng is a well traversed heavy truck route. Witbank is a mining town on this route and famous for its coal and other raw materials. For some reason, it hasn't been famous for its fog - until now that is.

On Thursday July 28th, in a fog bank where visibility was down to 2m on certain stretches of the N12, 12 trucks and two light vehicles were involved in a pile-up. Thankfully, no one was killed but there were several seriously injured drivers and passengers. The cost to the vehicle owners is still being tallied but you can bet your bogey, accidents like these don't come cheap. (pictures at the bottom of this page)

According to SAPS Inspector Benny Kotze, "there's a 20km stretch of the N12 as it passes through Witbank where the fog gets very dense. Visibility is always limited and on that particular day, it was reduced to between 50m and 2m." 

Inspector Kotze tells of a driver of a crashed Superlink who admitted to driving through the fog at 70km/h with visibility down to 5m. "The pile-up started when a car hit the back of a truck in the fog and this caused a chain reaction as trucks collided with the stationary wrecks."

He adds that normally, when the fog is especially dense, emergency services and traffic officials will close the road or escort vehicles through it in slow moving convoys. He was unable to explain why that didn't happen on the day in question. What he did implore FleetWatch to do was put out a massive plea: "Slow down in low visibility situations! Make sure your chevrons are clean! Make sure your retro-reflective tape is clear of dust! Make sure your lights are on! Invest in rear fog lamps even!" 

Well said, Inspector Kotze but one still can't help slapping one's forehead in disbelief at drivers failing to do what is obviously the only sane thing to do in these conditions.

Killer from out of nowhere
With Witbank emergency personnel and the drivers of the crashed vehicles still recovering from this disaster, the following morning brought more carnage in exactly the same area on the N12.

Zita Goldswain is a journalist for the Witbank News. She was on the scene of Friday's pile-up involving two trucks and an ambulance. Tragically, a young man lost his life in the incident. Here's Goldswain's version of events:

"The first accident occurred around 05h00 when a Mercedes Benz truck, carrying tyres, drove into the back of a 'low bed' that was driving slowly due to the poor visibility in the fog. Both vehicles involved were en route from Johannesburg to Witbank. The impact of the accident caused the Merc truck to flip over and land on its roof. Emergency services rushed to the scene, as it was apparent that the injured person in the Merc truck was in a critical state and in need of immediate emergency attention. The Fire Brigade pulled their fire engine in front of the Merc truck so as to protect the injured in the Merc truck and themselves from oncoming traffic. 

"A Volvo emerged from the fog and lightly bumped into the Merc truck. Sharon Steward, a passenger in the Volvo which her husband was driving recalls: 'We drove behind a blue bakkie and another car in the right-hand lane. The fog was incredibly thick at one stage and we had to slow down. The next moment my husband slammed on brakes and lightly bumped into the truck that was lying on its roof. We could see the two people in the cab of the truck, as well as the Emergency personnel busy assisting them,' said. 

'It was approximately 45 minutes later when we heard an oncoming truck. We realised that it would not be able to stop in time to avoid the accident scene and we ran towards the opposite side of the freeway to safety,' said Mrs Steward. 'The truck slammed into the Fire Engine, scraped against our Volvo and then it picked up the Hencom Towing Vehicle from the middle island and only dropped it again quite some distance away.'

"At this stage, the freeway from Witbank to Johannesburg was closed for traffic. According to Albert Holtzhausen from G&J Towing Services, 'the driver of the Volvo and I were sitting on my bakkie when we heard the truck's noise in the distance. It is scary to hear the truck coming, not being able to see it and knowing that there is no way it is going to stop in time. I still remember calling out to the Emergency personnel to watch out. Approximately 1 meter from my bakkie the truck broke through the fog curtain.'

"The driver of the heavy-duty vehicle was arrested on the scene for reckless and dangerous driving and was let out on R400 bail the same afternoon. The driver of the Merc truck, Mr L Lebo escaped with a gash on his chin. The passenger, 22-year-old Louis Groenewald, however, passed away late Friday afternoon due to his extensive injuries." 

Inspector Bennie Kotze from the SAPD Accident Unit took possession of the tacho meter that monitors the truck's speed. This meter has been sent for forensic investigation to establish what speed the truck was driving when the accident occurred.

Director David Lakota from Public Safety at Emalahleni Council said although on Friday he only had skeleton staff working due to the strikes, he saw to it that the N12 at Witbank and Ogies were closed off from traffic."

Ed's note: FleetWatch is most grateful to Zita and her colleagues at The Witbank News for sharing this report and the photographs of this tragic incident. Will all operators please take note of the lessons that emanate from these incidents and caution their drivers to slow down in adverse weather conditions - whether it be rain, fog, mist or whatever. It's the right and responsible thing to do.

 

N12 crash

	A MERCEDES BENZ TRUCK carrying tyres, rammed into the back of a low-bed semi that was driving slowly due to thick fog. The passenger in the Merc truck, Mr Louis Groenewalt died late Friday afternoon (29/07) due to his extensive injuries.
	THERE WAS absolute chaos on Friday, 29 July, on the N12 when, while emergency services were busy assisting with the first accident between the Merc truck and "low bed", a second accident occurred a mere 45 minutes later.
	THIS DANGEROUS GOODS tanker, drove straight into the first accident scene in the thick fog, injuring emergency services personnel in the process.