Two accidents took place yesterday afternoon due to the precarious condition of the R555 Stoffberg road, scarcely five kilometres apart from each other.

• The first accident involved a single vehicle, when a bakkie dragging a trailer lost control and overturned near Uitkyk between 16:00 and 17:00 on Thursday afternoon.
Five patients were treated at the scene but were fortunate to escape serious injury.

Video footage obtained by a passing motorist shows that the impact of the accident was so violent that the bakkie’s axle snapped off and can be seen lying next to the vehicle. The video also captures several potholes on the road.

• Two hours later, roughly five kilometres after the first accident, a truck lost control and landed on its side. The driver also escaped serious injury.

The video footage also shows the section of road in a dire state with visible potholes and deep rutting preceding the accident scene.

The condition of the Stoffberg road has been widely reported on for several years with the local farming community up in arms about the lack of road maintenance. The road acts as a busy corridor for coal trucks travelling between Middelburg, local coal mines and Steelpoort.

The matter was taken up by DA member of Parliament, Bosman Grobler, on several occasions.

The road conditions have however continued to deteriorate forcing the farming community and SG Coal into conducting road maintenance at their own expense.