Two people were reportedly killed when a Nissan UD truck towing a side tipper interlink collided with a Mercedes Benz sedan on the R81 highway at Mooketsi in Limpopo on Friday morning.
Video footage of the crash has surfaced on social media showing how exactly the accident occurred.
In the 30-second video, the Mercedes Benz can be seen approaching the R81 behind a white bakkie from a smaller road.
A red articulated truck approaches the intersection from the right-hand side of the Mercedes Benz and turns left on the small road where the car is coming from.
At the same time, the Mercedes Benz enters the intersection without stopping even though it is clearly marked that it should stop.
The driver, presumably, does this as he sees a cover in the red truck that’s turning but fails to see a Nissan UD truck towing a side tipper interlink following closely behind the red truck.
Upon seeing the side tipper truck, the Mercedes Benz driver tries to steer away from it but he is too late. The side-tipper truck hits the Mercedes Benz by the driver’s door pushing it onto the side of the road continues going straight.
Watch also: CCTV footage reveals bakkie is to blame for deadly Limpopo crash
According to social media reports, the driver and a passenger from the Mercedes Benz died on the scene while another passenger sustained very serious injuries.
Upon analysing the video, SA Trucker noticed that the collision happened in the opposite direction lane from where the side tipper truck was going as shown in the screengrab below.
The time between the appearance of the red truck and the side tipper truck suggests that the latter was following too closely. The video shows that the side-tipper truck overtook the turning truck which contributed to causing the accident.
Had the side tipper truck being in the right lane, the situation would definitely different. It’s either the two vehicles wouldn’t have collided or it would have been a minor crash.
