Pretoria - In an unusual Road Accident Fund claim, two spectators at a motorsport event - injured when one of the racing cars ploughed into them - are due to receive compensation following a high court settlement.
The RAF agreed to pay R434 000 to Cornelius Stols, 52, a boilermaker at a mine in eMalahleni (Witbank).
He lost half of his left ear in the accident. Most of his ribs were fractured and his lung perforated. Apart from these injuries he also suffered brain damage.
Stols tried to run out of harm’s way when the out-of-control Toyota Tazz sped towards where he was watching the race, but he was thrown into the air on impact.
He lost consciousness and woke up in hospital.
Jim Malupe, 51, an eMalahleni motor mechanic, suffered injuries virtually across his entire body and broke several bones when the Tazz also ploughed into him. He is due to receive R674 837 in damages.
The men each instituted a damages claim at the Gauteng Provincial Division of the High Court, sitting in Pretoria, following their harrowing ordeal on 8 August 2009.
They did not know each other at the time, but being keen motorsport enthusiasts, they went to the event held at Corridor Hill in eMalahleni.
The Highveld Motor Club presented the Hencom Rally with Motorsport SA, and the public were invited to attend.
One of the racers, Shaun Parsons, lost control of his car along a straight stretch of the road and he ploughed into the spectators.
The pair initially claimed damages form the Highveld Motor Club and from Motorsport SA, stating that the two organisations should have ensured the safety of the public, and should have ensured there were enough marshals along the track to ensure the public did not venture close to the racing cars.
However, they withdrew the claims against these bodies, which from the start denied negligence or liability, and only pursued the claim against the RAF. The latter agreed on Thursday to settle the matter before it went to trial.
An expert on motor racing, whose opinion formed part of court papers, said members of the public weren’t allowed in close proximity to these racing vehicles.
The driver of the car lost control on a straight part of the track, he testified.
Normally the straight parts did not pose any danger to the public and in his experience, this was the first time that a driver lost control on that part of the road.
The expert said more marshals along the way would not have been able to prevent the accident, nor would more warnings that the public had to stay far from the track.
Nobody could have foreseen this accident happening and nothing would have prevented it, he said.
Pretoria News