A chilling dash-cam clip that’s just hit social media shows exactly how things went pear-shaped on the N3, Durban-bound, on Wednesday.
The video shows a Zambian-registered truck barreling down the road at serious speed. It squeezes between a an SUV on the fast lane and the recording truck in the middle lane.
It slams into the back of the truck with tremendous force. That impact sends the struck vehicle spinning. The Zambian truck then barrels over the centre median, landing across the Pietermaritzburg-bound lanes.
The left side of the rear-ending truck is badly mangled. What was a busy stretch of highway turns into absolute carnage.
Given the mechanics of what we’re seeing, it’s no surprise traffic ground to a halt in both directions. The first truck (the one rear-ended) ends up blocking the Durban-bound side while the Zambian truck landed across the lanes heading back inland.
Recovery crews and emergency services spent hours on the clean-up and clearance, with only one lane managing to squeeze through on each side.
A day after this crash, another multi-vehicle crash occurred on the very same stretch near the toll, involving three trucks, a minibus taxi and an SUV.
That incident injured 12 people when a truck allegedly suffered brake failure before the toll, veered off the road, climbed an embankment and crashed.
Watch the onboard camera video of the Wednesday crash below:
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