Driver veers for rock throwers and crashes into truck
The new rock-throwing trend almost cost two truck drivers their lives.
With the tragic death of two minors in KwaZulu-Natal after thugs had thrown a rock from a bridge onto the family’s moving car still fresh in our minds, a truck collided head-on with another on Wednesday, 10 January after being stoned in an attempt to hijack it.
Netcare 911 reported that the truck was travelling towards Randburg and had almost reached Lanseria Airport when it was attacked by a group of people.
Also read: Three dead in truck collision
Photo: Bianca Pindral
“[They were] throwing rocks at it – smashing its windscreen,” said Tebogo Magoro, spokesperson for Netcare 911. “In an attempt to avert the attack, the truck collided with another truck.”
Paramedics were called to the scene and found the injured drivers of the two trucks.
“One sustained minor to moderate injuries and the other near-fatal injuries. They were both stabilised and transported to hospital,” said Magoro.
Police and Metro Police officers were on scene to investigate the incident.
It seems that throwing rocks onto moving vehicles has become a new trend, not only to hijack vehicles but also to put the occupants’ lives in danger.
Also read: Eyewitness speaks of horror crash
Photo: Submitted
Regarding the KwaZulu-Natal incident in December referred to above, a family was on their way toward the N2 from Durban when a rock was thrown from a bridge onto their car near Tongaat. The rock smashed through the windscreen, killing the siblings and causing the driver to lose control of the vehicle. Paramedics on scene declared two children, a girl and a boy, dead on scene.
Less than two weeks later a man was injured at the same bridge under more or less the same circumstances.
“Reports indicated that a large rock had been thrown from the same bridge where two people were killed recently. In the latest incident, the patient, a 26-year-old man, was travelling northbound on the N2 when the rock impacted his windscreen as he passed the bridge.
“Luckily the man only suffered soft-tissue damage to his shoulder as the rock landed on the passenger side of the car,” said Netcare 911 spokesperson Shawn Herbst.
Photo: Submitted
In a separate incident, Alicia Cilliers was travelling on the N2 at Ballito when a group of men pelted her car with rocks. A rock hit her passenger window and smashed it. She was the only person in the vehicle and because she thought it was an attempted hijacking, she kept driving.
These and many other incidents left officials to believe that rock-throwing incidents are on the rise and warned motorists to be more vigilant.
The community called municipalities to erect steel barriers on top of bridges in their areas to prevent stones being dropped onto vehicles passing underneath.
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