Letter: Appeal for witness

Lisa Smith of Ballito writes:

Last year during the Ballito Pro event, Leonora Drive was busier than usual with cars heading down or travelling up from the event.

Being a local for 3 years on I am very familiar with the roads, speed limits, narrow lanes etc. One becomes accustomed to this and as one becomes older, I am naturally more cautious and alert, especially during the peak seasons i.e. The Pro and holiday time. But things do happen!

On the morning of July 5 2019, I was driving up from the Pro after being on duty to return to my place of work. It was about 11am and as I was approaching the turn up the hill I was reduced to slow down (more than my usual snail pace) due to the number of cars in both lanes.

As my car was a Hyundai Matrix, it was slightly higher than the norm which helped me to see ahead more and I remember thinking as I noticed the opposite lane, ”Gosh there is a long stream of cars waiting behind a little blue car”.

This car was waiting for a gap to turn right into Edna Lane and was holding up quite a lot of cars behind it. As I got closer to this point, next thing wham bam! the little blue car decides to turn hard right into me in an effort to get into Edna Lane.

First there is shock that sets in and then the reality of what has happened and there is a flurry of people around.

I thank God that both I and the driver of the little blue car had only mostly shock and bruises.

I do recall a lady coming to my car window as soon as the accident happened and there could be other witnesses that recall this accident. Both cars were written off. Due to being sued for an amount of R37 000 (shock and horror as I read the summons sticking in my door 2 weeks ago)

I would welcome any witnesses to come forward.

To this day I am still without my own car and I would like to put this behind me which I thought it was. Kindly contact me at lisasmith029@gmail.com if you can offer any recollection of this day.

Thank you, Ballito community.