Where there is smoke there is fire, and a wrecked Aston
“I wasn’t able to avoid the car in front of me and ended up hitting it”
The smoke from the fire along the N4 lead to there being little to no visibility and resulted in a collision causing more than R2.1-million in damage.
On September 18 a fire broke out in the veldt alongside the N4 Highway towards Middelburg before the toll gate. Mr Thulani Khonbisa was travelling on business from Johannesburg to Nelspruit when he was involved in a collision.
“I saw the fire and suddenly a large cloud of smoke moved over the road and I lost sight of the road,” he said.
Mr Thulani Khonbisa removes his belongings from his Aston Martin which was involved in an accident on the N4 Highway.
A number of cars were caught in the cloud of obscurity, almost visionless, drivers brought their vehicles to a quick stop.
“I wasn’t able to avoid the car in front of me and ended up hitting it,” said Khonbisa.
Khonbisa was driving a new Aston Martin N430, valued at R2.1million, after colliding with the car in front of him, the front right wheel of the Aston Martin broke off from the vehicle and rolled down the slope leaving the car’s undercarriage and body severely damaged.
“Both I and my passenger weren’t hurt and neither was the driver I crashed into, fortunately,” he said.
When the fire broke out Middelburg Fire and Rescue called TRAC Helpdesk to assist with the fire.
A fire raged on Friday, September 18 with the strong winds experienced throughout eMalahleni.
“We dispatched our Middelburg accident team, addition patrol teams and the Middelburg Maintenance manager to assist with the situation. Subsequently the road was closed for a short while until visibility returned,” said Ms Kathleen Greeff, TRAC N4.
“Our advice for driving in smoke, is don’t. If there is smoke across the road don’t attempt to try and drive through it,” she added.
Traffic on the highway came to a standstill after the road was cordoned off, due to there being little to no visibility as the result of a fire that broke out.
She further stated that if you find yourself caught in smoke don’t stop unless you can get off the road, rather continue driving slowly keeping the yellow line on your left and all your lights and hazards on until you are through the smoke or can get off the road.
