At approximately 08h03 this morning, Saturday 13 October 2007, Netcare 911 paramedics responded to a report of a serious collision on the N1 north between the Gordon road and Maraisburg road bridges.
Paramedics arrived on scene to find there had been a partial head-on collision after one of the vehicles travelling southwards crossed over the middle island and collided with an oncoming car, that car then collided with another car that was stationary in the emergency lane.
Fire fighters had to use the “jaws of life” to free the victims from two of the wrecks.
Paramedics attended to four patients at the scene, one lady driver was in a critical condition and was placed onto emergency life support before being airlifted by the Netcare 911 helicopter. Two other patients were in a serious condition as their vehicles had sustained massive impact damage. The occupant of the vehicle that was stationary in the emergency lane at the time of the incident sustained relatively minor injuries.
Two victims were transported by an ambulance and the helicopter to the Netcare Milpark hospital and two were transported by ambulances to the the Chris Hani Baragwaneth hospital.
This incident was attended to by paramedics from the provincial and private ambulance services, Roodepoort fire department, Metro Police and the Metro Polices Specialist Accident Investigation Unit. Traffic travelling in both directions was severely affected for about ninety minutes before the scene was cleared.
N1 head-on crashes:
During this week we attended to a fatal head-on collision on the N1 close the the Beyers Naude off ramp and we believe that these head-on collisions may have been prevented and the injuries reduced had there been a protective armco barrier between the two highways travelling in opposing directions.
Other N1 smashes in the area:
08 October 2007, fatal head-on smash N1 between Beyers Naude and Hans Strijdom.
29 September 2007, four injured in head-on smash on N1 near Maraisburg off ramp.
26 May 2007, 5 people died in a head-on collision on the N1 south near the Maraisburg off ramp.
19 January 2007, driver of a bakkie dies after the vehicle veered off the highway and hit a storm water drain and over turned.
04 December 2006, a passenger was killed and the driver seriously injured when their vehicle was hit by another causing them to lose control and cross over onto oncoming traffic resulting in a multi-vehicle pile up.
29 October 2006, six people ( two children and four adults) died after three vehicles were involved in a head-on collision on the N1 between Beyers Naude and 14th Avenue. A baby boy survived after his entire family was killed in the crash.
09 July 2006, 10 people died after the Venture in which they were travelling overturned after going onto the grassy middle island then hitting the 9th Avenue bridge on the N1 after 14th Avenue direction towards Pretoria.
20 February 2006, driver of a TVR sports car died after his vehicle fell from the N1 down onto 9th Avenue in Fairland. There was only one small barrier at the top of the bridge which the vehicle actually flew over.
14 February 2006, head on collision between Beyers Naude and 14th Avenue, one driver was killed and the other sustained serious injuries.
[ Information provided by Netcare 911 to the Road Safety & Arrive Alive Blog]
NETCARE 911
Emergency No. 082 911
Enough now!!
This is going on 1 a week? In the first place, how are people getting this right?
Is there data on where along the highways these happened? If it’s in 1 place surely there is a problem at that point, but if they are strewn along the length, the there must be a bigger problem. How does one lobby for action at a particularly dangerous point?
I ride the N1 daily … saw the one avccident last week, it was bad. But the chances of that happening today or tomorrow again is quite good. Gives me that sick feeling …