UPDATE: Taxi that slammed into traffic light knocked down cyclist prior to major crash
CRAIGHALL - There were numerous injuries after a taxi slammed into a traffic light at the corner of St Albans and Jan Smuts Avenue on the morning of 8 March.
UPDATE: 8 March 2016, 9:30am – According to a post in the Craighall Park facebook group, following the major taxi accident at the corner of Jan Smuts and St Albans Avenues in Craighall Park this morning, a man assisted the injured in the crash.
According to the facebook post, the man assisted the injured when he arrived at his salon that is located near where the accident took place.
The man claims that while he was assisting the injured, one of the passengers from the taxi informed him that the taxi had hit a cyclist up the road, prior to the crash, near Hyde Park.
It is believed that the man assisted the cyclist after rushing through traffic and driving on the on coming lane.
View the facebook post below:
INITIAL REPORT: 8 March 2016, 8am – Just before 7.30am on the morning of 8 March, a taxi crashed into a traffic light at the corner of Jan Smuts and St Albans Avenues in Craighall Park, injuring twelve people.
According to EMER-G-MED, the taxi ploughed into a cyclist near the Colony Arms Shopping Centre and then crashed into the traffic light while attempting to flee the scene.
“They say it was a brake failure,” stated Isaac Nythii, who saw the accident happen from further down the road. He spoke with passengers shortly after the accident occurred.
“[The driver]Â couldn’t manage, he wanted to swerve so he went up towards Beacon Street. So he tried to stop and then he hit one of the bins and the pavement. And then he hit the pole for the robots.”
An injured passenger who was bleeding from a head wound following the accident, also said the taxi’s brakes seemed to have failed.
Twelve injured patients, including the cyclist were reported to have had moderate to serious injuries and were treated by EMER-G-MED on the scene and then transported to a nearby hospital.
A bystander stepped in to comfort the injured passengers and provided them with bottles of water.
Local authorities are on-scene to investigate the exact events leading up to the collision.
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