KNYSNA NEWS - On Friday night, August 11, a couple travelling in convoy had what they describe as a terrible experience.
Elouise Hamman was travelling behind her partner, Nico Pienaar, along the N2 towards Knysna from Plettenberg Bay at about 22:00 when the two collisions with the cows happened.
According to Hamman, Pienaar was driving in front of her in a company bakkie when he hit a cow that fell down in the road.
"It looked dead and we did phone the police to tell them what happened, but do not know if they went to the scene," said Hamman.
Pienaar's bakkie is now extensively damaged with the whole side door, panel and front bonnet destroyed. A preliminary quote to fix the damage is at least R70 000.
Hamman then hit one of the three cows that were crossing the road following Pienaar's collision.
"I had only had my dream car, a Volkswagen Tiquan, for nine months and it is so damaged that it will probably be written off," said Hamman.
On Saturday night another car hit a cow, apparently at about 21:00, and was also damaged, but details of this accident are not known yet.
"We got out of those cars with our children and didn't have even so much as a stiff neck or a bruise, so we were very lucky not to be hurt," said Hamman, but her concern is that other motorists may not get off so lightly next time.
"This is just so, so dangerous for all motorists. In the old days animals used to be impounded, but today it would seem that because this is South Africa we must just accept that there will be cows on a highway."
Who is financially responsible for the damage to these cars, is a question she poses. "And what can be done to get them off the road before there is a serious accident," said Hamman.
Comments on a social media group lament the danger of the N2. One person said: "If you are lucky enough not to get stones thrown through your windscreen or find burning tyres on the road, you hit a cow. What on earth is happening?"
These questions will be answered in the next edition of the Knysna-Plett Herald.
Read a related article: Windshields smashed on N2
ARTICLE: ELAINE KING, KNYSNA-PLETT HERALD EDITOR
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