Johannesburg - "A bus stopped to be fixed. The driver and all passengers have disembarked. But somebody forgot to engage the handbrake and the bus rolled back into the fast-flowing traffic. It took our dedicated on-road services team almost two hours to secure and clear the scene."
That is the tweet by Sanral on Wednesday morning that accompanied dramatic footage of a bus rolling backward into traffic while motorists struggle to avoid it, some unsuccessfully.
The video had garnered more than 60 000 views by early evening.
%%%twitter https://twitter.com/hashtag/BeyondRoads?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#BeyondRoads pic.twitter.com/cXvxqsY3eM
— SANRAL (@SANRAL_za)
But Sanral has confirmed that the footage is actually from their archives and happened on 18 July 2014 on the N1 between Johannesburg and Pretoria.
"It is part of SANRAL’s ongoing road safety awareness drive coupled with the value technology (CCTV, the Traffic Management Centres, on road services, etc) brings to ensuring mobility on the national road network," Sanral told IOL.
"All future archival footage will be clearly tagged as such," a spokesperson added.
Sanral's correction however, did not stop tweeps from weighing in on the video.
See some reactions to Sanral's post:
Gross negligence
— PANASHE (@punchline15_) August 28, 2019
"driver forgot to engage the handbrake"
— Mnu Hlubi 🇿🇦 #PutSouthAfricansFirst (@Mnumzana_Hlubi) August 28, 2019
Also, the bus doesn't look like it's just rolling on its own, it should have stopped long ago, not this twist & turn happening here. Somebody that is naive was definitely in control of that bus. Go argue with your ancestors!
Did you say somebody? Who else but the driver was meant to do that? Lona sies
— ❤ 𝓟𝓾𝓵𝓪 𝓡𝓪𝓽𝓸 (@Pula_Sims) August 28, 2019
That's absolutely ridiculous .... its the Bus Drivers responsibility to ensure the bus is engaged in a gear and the Handbrake is on to prevent exactly what just happened...Hope that nobody was hurt
— Jonathan Levin (@Gawiesnr) August 28, 2019
IOL