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November 2010
Yesterday’s N3 pile-up has
been rated as the biggest ‘bump & grind’ in the history
of the N3, never before have so many trucks (especially)
and cars been in one smash. Sadly lives were lost, which
is a sobering “wake up” for all.
The accident scene –
roughly midway between Cato Ridge and Camperdown and
what it subsequently did to the traffic at the Cato
interchange. |
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I was
dammed nearly a victim of this accident; driving to my
aeroplane in Camperdown at 06h00’ish, I slowed to a
crawl, due to the suddenly thick mist. A certain
aggravating factor here would be that it was 100% clear
skies up to Cato Ridge and then without warning the low
lying fog sat on the flats between Cato and Camperdown –
the motorists are therefore inclined to go into the mist
at ‘full tilt’, unlike if they’d been crawling in misty
conditions all morning. |
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Nevertheless, I suddenly had a stationary car in front
of me, but sideways and with it’s nose in the centre
hedge. I did a combination of disbelief, extra hard
braking and looking for a gap to swerve left. I could
not swerve due to a truck in the slow lane and I managed
to stop before T boning the back of the BM’er protruding
from the bush. Just then the thumping and scraping
started – it was a new arrival, a 24 wheeler unable to
stop and taking the gap between me and the other big
truck in the slow lane. As he came through the gap, he
was grinding up against the side of the truck in the
slow lane. How I was not ‘taken out’ I do not know.
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As
a matter of pure self preservation, I floored it through
the same gap and kept moving – in retrospect a very
sensible thing to do. I dashed to my plane and by the
time I was done with the ‘pre-flight’ this fog had
burned off. I immediately flew back to the scene and I
was blown away by what I saw – Mayhem!
Here’s a crop from the pic above, depicting what is/was
a car sandwiched between these monsters of the road, who
kill you when they can’t stop their rolling 40Tons.
That’s not meant to sound dramatic, its just the truth. |
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An
onward flight towards Pmb revealed where the “heavies”
were lined up on the now closed N3 and one look at the
volume is enough to scare road users and road
maintenance people. This flight also revealed that there
were 4 clearly discernable accidents – whether
coincidental or as ‘follow on’ accidents and they were
all within a 1km stretch.
Spring is here Folks and with it comes the warmer,
damper - mist making climate. So check out the pics and
let them tickle your own regard for self preservation.
Open that following distance and if/when you get stopped
on a motorway, be VERY conscious of what’s coming from
behind. |
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