Pretoria family still living in destroyed house after accident

A Pretoria west family has been living in their partially damaged house for more than two weeks after a truck crashed into it, Rekord Moot reports.

The accident happened when a truck driver allegedly tried to avoid a second accident on the R80 Mabopane highway on 3 September and rammed into the house.

Four rooms were completely destroyed.

“These four rooms also had to be knocked down to make the house safe for us to live in,” said Douw Prinsloo, owner of the house in Ferdinand Street in Daspoort.

“We cannot live like this any longer.”

He said was struggling with the insurance company.

“We asked them if they could put us in another place temporarily because it is inhumane to live like this,” he said adding a place to stay had already been identified.

Prinsloo his workers were living in a flat and wooden house in the backyard. “We are going to store our possessions with them and they can also keep an eye on the place,” he said.

Medically he was doing well, said Prinsloo.

Prinsloo said he had back and neck injuries from the impact of the accident.

“My back still hurts from time to time, but it does not seem to be any permanent damage,” he said.

Prinsloo said he wants to set up a petition for safety railings along the highway to make it safe for nearby houses.

“In the almost 12 years that we have been living here, there has been a lot of accidents and every time residents’ lives are at risk,” he said.

“It is also not just accidents – many rogue tyres from vehicles end up in our yards.”

He said this was not the first time a vehicle crashed into their house.

“It happened twice to the previous owners,” he said.

He did not feel safe any more.

“I am too afraid to invite my grandchildren over,” he said.

Prinsloo said he was lying on a sofa to rest when the crash happened. First, he heard the screeching brakes.

“At first I thought it was an accident happening on the highway, but the next moment when I turned around I saw the truck hurtling towards our house,” he said.

The truck driver was trapped in the wreckage for more than an hour before he was taken to hospital by helicopter.

Only he and a few of his workers were at home at the time of the accident

The workers were in the backyard.

The living room, sitting room, TV room, walk-in closet, bathroom and a spare room with a separate bathroom were destroyed.

The roof also shifted upon impact.