Umdloti residents living near the traffic circle at the entrance to the peaceful seaside village were woken by the bone chilling bang of a tour bus smashing straight into the traffic circle this morning at 6.15 am.
The tour bus that crashed into Umdloti’s main traffic circle this morning belongs to an eMalahleni based transport company, Revival Coaches, disrupting the flow of traffic in and out of Umdloti.
“It sounded like the loudest crack of thunder,” said Shona Smith who lives at Umdloti Resort.
The bus was destined for a holiday resort where it was meant to pick up a group of about 60 guests staying in Umdloti for the week.
It is not yet known if the accident was caused by mechanical failure or driver error.
Durban North SAPS spokesperson, Captain Raymond Deokaran said there was no sign of the bus driver being intoxicated and as there were no injuries, only an accident report was completed.
Because Umdloti is such a small town, may people prefer to walk or ride scooters around town and residents are calling for speed bumps similar to the ones before the Bellamont Road turn-off, to be placed on the rest of the road leading to traffic circle to slow down speeding motorists who they feel endanger people’s lives.
“My husband and I are afraid to walk up that road to the Spar because people are speeding, especially on Friday and Saturday nights when they have been drinking. I have been begging for the municipality to install speed bumps,” said Umdloti resident, Zelda Hiestermann.
The road is an extension of the M27 into the town and is popular with runners and cyclists as it is their only way to the trails running through the surrounding sugarcane farms.
Umdloti UIP manager, Terry Rens said they have been asking for speed bumps along this road for years.
“This is the second accident this month. We need speed bumps on this road to slow people down and prevent more accidents,” said Rens.
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