Two truck drivers had escaped death on the R40 in Marite near Hazyview on Tuesday morning, February 25.

According to an eyewitness, Ken Robertson, the accident involved an articulated and a delivery truck. Both had been travelling towards Hazyview when the delivery truck tried to overtake at a barrier line.

“The delivery truck that was ferrying building material tried to overtake the articulated truck just before the bridge. The space became too small resulting in the delivery truck swerving in front of the articulated truck. It then pushed the smaller one over the bridge. Both trucks eventually landed in the small river below. The drivers sustained minor injuries and were treated at the scene and released,” said Robertson.

He said he was relieved there had been no fatalities, but called on the City of Mbombela, the Bushbuckridge Local Municipality and the provincial traffic department to enforce the law without favour by holding reckless drivers to account.

“In order for drivers to start behaving responsibly on our roads, there must be maximum presence of traffic officials on the roads as this will have the potential of causing drivers to respect the rules of the road. In most cases traffic cops are found in a specific place that is known by every single driver, resulting in the undermining of the law where the traffic cops are not stationed,” Robertson said.

Emergency personnel had arrived to attend to the scene, control the traffic and extract the trucks from the river. The Department of Community Safety Security and Liaison’s spokesperson, Moeti Mmusi, said an investigation is under way to establish the cause of the accident. He also said it had taken the emergency personnel more than eight hours to remove the articulated truck from the bridge.