GRAAFF-REINET NEWS — The beginning of the festive season has sadly once again been marked by a spate of accidents on the roads in our area.
Two accidents occurred on Thursday, December 15 near Aberdeen. The first, just 4km out of town near the junction of the R61 and the N9, happened when two vehicles pulled out to overtake another travelling in the same direction. According to the driver of the second vehicle, he saw a vehicle approaching from the opposite direction and tried to pull back in, hitting the first overtaking vehicle. Both vehicles were damaged, but fortunately there were no serious injuries.
The second accident on Thursday happened on the R61 between Beaufort West and Aberdeen, about 32km from Aberdeen. Only one vehicle, an Opel Corsa, was involved, travelling from Cape Town to Cradock. According to the driver, a tyre burst and he lost control of the vehicle, which left the road and rolled. One female passenger died at the scene of the accident, and a male passenger was injured and taken to hospital. The driver, who was also injured, was on his way to Cradock where he was to be married on the Saturday.
Just after 1am on Sunday, December 16, two Mercedes Sprinter minibus taxis collided head-on, 22km from Graaff-Reinet on the N9 to Middelburg. Both drivers were killed in the accident, as well as one passenger in the vehicle travelling from Cape Town to Mount Frere. There were 24 passengers in total in this vehicle, of whom 15 were taken initially to Midland Hospital in Graaff-Reinet. Two of these were transferred to Livingstone Hospital in Port Elizabeth. Later, the remaining eight passengers arrived at the hospital, but none of their injuries were serious. The other taxi, which was returning to Cape Town from the former Transkei to collect more passengers, was empty except for the driver.
Also in the early hours on Sunday morning, a car was involved in an accident on the R61 about 70km from Aberdeen. At this stage, the cause of the accident is unknown, as the driver could not remember what had happened. No other vehicle was involved. One of the three passengers, a 19 year old woman, was seriously injured after being thrown from the vehicle. The four people are from Kraaifontein, near Cape Town, but no other details are known as yet.
The worst accident reported to date was on Monday, December 19, at 5am, when two Cape Town based Quantum minibus taxis collided head-on, also on the R61 between Beaufort West and Aberdeen. Four people died at the scene of the accident: the driver and his son, who were the only people in the taxi travelling back to Cape Town, and the driver and one passenger in the full taxi travelling towards Aberdeen. One of the injured passengers was airlifted to Beaufort West hospital, and another seriously injured passenger, who was initially taken to Aberdeen Hospital, was later transferred to Port Elizabeth. A third vehicle was involved in the accident, a Hyundai SUV which had come from Cape Town to fetch family members in Aberdeen to go to a wedding in Cape Town. The front of this vehicle was badly smashed, and it is believed that it was travelling close behind the one taxi and was unable to stop in time. The R61 was closed to all traffic for about three hours, causing considerable back-ups in both directions.
Despite these accident, Midland Hospital in Graaff-Reinet has had a much quieter start to the holiday season than last year. In the period from December 1 to December 19, 2015, fifty patients from motor vehicle accidents had been treated. This year, during the same time period, there have been 37 patients.
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