Drivers using the N3 between Durban and Pietermaritzburg say it is extremely stressful to use the national road as crashes involving trucks are on the rise.
This comes after a fatal pile up on the N3 at Mariannhill Toll Plaza that involved at least three trucks and six cars. Four people were killed in the incident.
The KwaZulu-Natal Road Traffic Inspectorate says out of the 132 crashes in the province that claimed 159 lives, 52 involved trucks.
Motorist, Shabnam Fairgrieve, expressed her feelings at the Pietermaritzburg funeral of the two victims of the Mariannhill crash, Pradhil Thakur Rajbansi and his fiancée, Priyanka Nunkumar.
#sabcnews #sabckzn Renewed calls for trucks to be monitored on national roads in KZN. This after a truck was involved in a pile up accident on the N3 towards Durban earlier this week. Two people were killed. pic.twitter.com/65MODSmbGT
— Nonkululeko Hlophe (@Leko3) November 4, 2022
Multiple challenges
Muzi Mkhize and Rooksana Ahmed, who also attended the funeral, say the combination of a large number of trucks on the road and extensive road works on the N3 between Pietermaritzburg and Durban has become a nightmare.
“No, it is not safe. We are faced with a problem with more trucks on the road and our roads are under construction. I’m pleading to residents and also as a resident, I want us all to obey the rules of the road and make sure that everybody is safe and let’s save live,” says Mkhize.
“What we have today is what we as community members, whether it is in Durban, Pietermaritzburg, but prevalently in KZN with the road works that are taking place. We have had in one month 21 people dying. We have accidents that are waiting to happen with the trucks.”
Traumatic
A friend of the victims, Shivaan Hiralal says it was traumatic to drive home from Durban to Pietermaritzburg on Tuesday evening following the crash.
“They both shared very similar ideas; they were ready to make any personal sacrifice to give back to the community. In fact on the day, they were heading out to do charity work. I commute up and down on the N3 between Durban and Pietermaritzburg almost on a weekly basis. And on Tuesday night after the incident, it actually felt like PTSD- Post Traumatic. I was shaking literally when the truck was driving behind me or next to me,” she adds.
KwaZulu-Natal Road Traffic Inspectorate Spokesperson, Zinhle Mngomezulu says some of the trucks that were involved in crashes in the province had break failures.
Mngomezulu urged truck owners to ensure their trucks are roadworthy before leaving their base. It is suspected that the truck that allegedly caused the pile up at Mariannhill had brake failure.
She says it is unacceptable that there are so many crashes involving trucks on the provincial roads.
Negligence
“It is totally unacceptable that we are having such a high number of crashes involving trucks on our roads. However, we are sitting with a problem regarding truck drivers that ignore the rules of the road and they are busy doing their own thing which leads to major crashes in the province. If you look at what happened at Marrianhill Plaza, that truck ran out of brakes, so there is negligence there on the owner’s side. I just feel that owners are greedy they are just pushing the work instead of checking the roadworthiness of the truck itself.”
Truck driver, Vuso Tego who is facing two counts of culpable homicide after a horror crash near the Mariannhill Toll Plaza, has been granted R10 000 bail in the Pinetown Magistrate’s Court.
The court heard that Tego is a Zimbabwean national who is legally in the country. He had to hand in his passport and has to report to a Durban police station twice a week. His case was remanded to the 17th of January.
