MBOMBELA – Things could have gone horribly wrong at the spaghetti junction in Ferreira Street on Saturday, had a driver not kept his cool and considered his options wisely.
It was quite a sight as Sasol’s Henk Lategan and privateer Japie van Niekerk collided during stage 8 of the Sasol Rally. The accident was captured on video and shared on social media. It was clear that spectators could have easily been injured, and even killed. During the event Lategan lost control of his Volkswagen Polo. Everyone expected him to stay put until Van Niekerk had passed, but he did the exact opposite and proceeded to drive, ending up right in front of Van Niekerk.
The latter, a White River driver, had two choices, to either bash into his fellow driver or try and avoid him, by putting the crowd’s lives at risk. He chose to take the hit and collided head-on with his opponent.
Tristan van Huyssteen of Hi-Tech Medical Services, who spoke to one of the drivers after the incident, said Van Niekerk was highly agitated following Lategan’s error.
Fortunately, even though it had been a very close encounter, no one was hurt.
