Heavy goods trucks and buses might never use William Nicol Road in Roodepoort again if the Joburg metro police department (JMPD) has its way.
Next week, the JMPD intends to approach the Johannesburg Roads Agency to ask it to put up signs prohibiting such vehicles on William Nicol.
JMPD spokesman Wayne Minnaar said the road had become too dangerous for heavy vehicles to use as it was very steep.
This comes after five people were killed and about 13 others injured when a truck driver on the road allegedly lost control of his vehicle on Friday afternoon.
Minnaar said the driver, who suffered back injuries and is in a serious condition in hospital, was on the road’s steep downhill when he lost control.
Minnaar said the truck hit cars in front of it, the traffic light, bumped another truck and went on to hit vehicles on the other side of the road, before it hit eight cars on the parking lot of Flora Clinic. All in all, he said, 27 cars were hit.
NOT THE FIRST TIME
Minnaar said this was not the only accident during which heavy vehicles had caused mayhem and death.
“A few months ago, a driver lost control of his truck, went straight on the road and crashed into a car… Two men died. It can’t be this way, we can’t have many people injured so badly and also dying. This road is very steep for heavy vehicles and we don’t want them on that road any more, to avoid these kinds of disaster.
“We want to ban trucks and buses totally because we have realised that the road is a short cut to the N1. In the future, they will have to use Gordon Road,” he said.
The road has a sign that warns heavy-vehicle drivers that they should use a low gear.
Asked if the JMPD was not worried about a backlash from truckers and bus companies, Minnaar said: “I don’t think they have an option, they will have to obey the law.”
OTHER ACCIDENTS AT THE WEEKEND
Friday, June 14
- A bakkie driver is trapped in his vehicle, necessitating the use of the Jaws of Life after his vehicle and a truck collide on Beyers Naudé. His front-seat passenger sustains critical head injuries.
- Two people die and two are injured critically when two cars collide in Fourways on the corner of Witkoppen and Kingfisher roads.
Sunday, June 16
- Three people die after their vehicles collide in Rondebult, Boksburg, on Nederveen Highway. Two others, believed to be passengers, are taken to Natalspruit hospital. A fire prevents rescue workers from retrieving the bodies.
Monday, June 17
- Two people die in an accident involving three cars, a motorbike and a pedestrian at the intersection of John Vorster Drive and Oak Avenue in Centurion.
- Two women and four children are injured when their SUV rolls down an embankment off the R512. A doctor who stopped at the scene and called the emergency services starts treating a seven-year-old girl ejected from the vehicle. Three other children and two adult women suffer minor and moderate injuries.
-The Star