Head-on collision
The initial accident involved a Golf and a Chevy Spark. The Western Cape Department of Health EMS/AMS Oudtshoorn rescue helicopter was dispatched. One patient was airlifted to George Provincial Hospital, the remaining patients were transported by road ambulance. There were no fatalities.
Daryl Hunt, veterinarian at The Crags Veterinary Clinic, was en route from Plett to The Crags when the initial head-on collision took place. He said that a small white car had been on his tail for a while when the driver decided to overtake him as well as the three cars and a tanker ahead of him on the solid white line just after the Plett Puzzle Park. The small white car was unsuccessful in this attempt and was forced back into the lane.
Where it became legal to overtake, the small white car once again made an attempt to do so. The white car became "sandwiched" between the tanker he had attempted to overtake and the oncoming traffic when the road once more became a single lane. The driver apparently lost control of the small white vehicle at this point and went on to cause the head-on collision. Hunt assisted the driver of the white car until the paramedics arrived at which point he left the scene of the accident.
Heroic truck-driver
Shortly after the head-on collision occurred, a motorist who was stuck in the backed up traffic witnessed a terrifying sequence of events. Due to the fact that the traffic was backed up on a blind rise with emergency services personnel not yet at the scene, two trucks were coming from opposite directions and the one had to swerve off the road into a ravine in order to avoid either colliding with the oncoming truck or rear-ending the queue of backed-up vehicles.
"There was no warning for us that we would approach a stationary line of cars, no metro cops or anybody with a flag," said the motorist. She regards the truck driver to be a hero for risking his life to avoid potentially hurting others.
"Branches, twigs and leaves scattered all over my vehicle, missing me by a few metres," she said. The truck driver climbed up to the road and, according to the motorist, appeared to be okay apart from a few scratches. He reportedly said that as he came around the blind corner and saw the row of cars and the oncoming truck, he had no choice but to turn left. "I gave him a hug and told him he was a hero, he saved many lives that day," said the motorist, relieved to be unharmed following this harrowing ordeal.
The initial accident involved a Golf and a Chevy Spark.
One patient was airlifted to George Provincial Hospital.
This heroic truck driver, known only by his first name, George veered
his truck into bushes to avoid a line of backed up traffic.
ARTICLE: CANDICE LUDICK, KNYSNA-PLETT HERALD JOURNALIST
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