Number of pre-season accidents are concerning
Hannes Smith, Head Personal Lines Sales & Operations, at Old Mutual Insure said road users need to know how to manage their risks on the road for their own safety.
THE recent accident toll in Durban has been high which is concerning because the festive season has not yet officially begun.
Queensburgh News itself didn’t escape unscathed when one of the distribution vehicles hit a tree on Glendale Road, Bellair on 23 October. According to Garrith Jamieson of Rescue Care, seven people were stabilised at the scene before being transported to nearby hospitals.
Earlier on the same day, which was sunny with clear conditions, there were a number of other reports of accidents in the area including a serious head-on crash Sarnia Road and Arundel Roadd and two people were transported to hospital.
The next day another serious accident took place, this time in Kemps Place next to the M7. According to information from first responders at the scene, the car had driven off the M7 and landed on the road below. The driver was listed as seriously injured in this incident.
Exactly why there has been such an increase in accidents is not known but authorities have asked motorists not to drive recklessly, risk drinking and driving, to stop using mobile devices when driving. And, an insurance company released a report stating there are many accidents each year attributed to sneezing drivers suffering from hayfever.
Hannes Smith, Head Personal Lines Sales & Operations, at Old Mutual Insure pointed out that a single sneeze can force the average person to blink for between 0.3 and 0.7 seconds.
“If you are driving at 60km/h, you could travel up to 10m with your eyes clamped shut if you sneeze just once. That isn’t considering the fact that many people also lose their fine motor control skills in that instant, or that many hayfever sufferers are prone to fits of three or four consecutive sneezes.
“It gets even scarier if you are travelling on the highway because you could essentially lose control of your vehicle for stretches of up to 20m every time a sneeze happens.”
With this in mind, he said road users need to know how to manage their risks on the road for their own safety.
“A sudden sneeze can happen at any time while you are driving, and especially if you are prone to seasonal allergies, there are a number of precautions that you should take.”
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