- Motorists were alarmed when a large truck on the N11 was filmed driving recklessly.
- The driver was apparently over taking on blind rises, and clipped a trailer, but failed to stop.
- The police have arrested the driver.
Reckless driving is nothing new in South Africa and worldwide, but when it's a reckless truck on a busy Pass in Mpumalanga, you can't help to fear for your life as a bystander.
Several motorists lit up the phone lines at the Charleston police station on Saturday morning when a reckless truck driver endangered the lives of road users on the N11 on Saturday, 14 May, just after 09:00.
A motorist had recorded the Ni-Da Group Transport truck passing several vehicles, mainly other large trucks, after being rattled by the driver's brazen recklessness. The truck driver had also hit a trailer attached to a white Isuzu bakkie and damaged it, as shown in the video footage. The unnamed motorist who had filmed the truck had then contacted and notified Charleston police and the owner company, providing them with the vehicle's registration number.
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The incident occurred on the The Amajuba pass which is 30km north of Newcastle on the road to Volksrust in Mpumulanga
Captain Christo Paulsen from the Charleston South African Police Services says several concerned motorists had notified them of the truck's dangerous driving on the Majuba Pass between Newcastle and Charleston. The driver of the Isuzu with the damaged trailer had also arrived at the police station to file a report.
Paulsen said, "We had received numerous calls from drivers on the road, and we managed to stop the truck in Charleston. The driver had grabbed the truck's keys and ran, but we managed to track him down and arrested him for reckless driving. However, a full investigation is still in progress, and once we receive a summons from the court, he could possibly be charged with several violations.
"Thank goodness no one was hurt by his driving antics; it could have been much worse. It could have been a scary nightmare. The driver was changing lanes without indicating, overtaking on blind rises and bends; he failed to stop after a crash and failed to assist the other driver."
The stretch of road on the Majuba Pass between Newcastle and Charleston is a problem for law officials. Paulsen adds, "There are so many truck accidents on that road and many fatalities."
One of Ni-Da's directors Pieter Kwakernaak told Wheels24 that the company is also doing its own investigation after the incident, and they do not condone the driver's behaviour.
Kwakernaak said, "Ni-Da is following our own processors, and we held a disciplinary hearing on Monday morning (16 May) where the employee faced immediate dismissal for his actions.
"We have more than 600 drivers in our company, and this driver has only been with us for about a year with no prior incidents on his file. We're quite frustrated by this as we have never had any problems with him before. While we don't know the real reason for his driving, we can't condone such unacceptable behaviour.
"Our trucks are all roadworthy, and none of them are older than three years, so there definitely was no brake failure as assumed by some, nor can we confirm any drunk driving at this time."
The truck appears to be speeding on the video, but his reckless road behaviour is more alarming. The driver overtakes several other trucks without indicating and overtakes on solid lines on blind rise bends, which could have caused terrible crashes with oncoming vehicles.
Kwakernaak said, "While we don't condone his driving, he was not driving at excessive speeds. According to our three-way camera system data in our trucks, the driver was only going between 60 and 85km/h at most between the stretch of road as recorded by the motorist."
According to Ni-Da, the side-tipper truck weighs about an average of 20-22 tons when empty as it was on Saturday morning. When a vehicle of this size and weight overtakes smaller cars, it could look as though it's driving faster than what it actually is, but it's still incredibly dangerous.
Kwakernaak says even if SAPS did not stop the driver, the incident would have been picked up by their internal systems and tracking and white-flagged and be dealt with.
According to the Road Freight Association (RFA), any form of driver behaviour that endangers other road users is unacceptable.
The RFA said, "More than 80% of all incidents on the road are due to human error.
"Members of the RFA must adhere to the Core Code, which includes incident management and implementing the RTQS (Road Transport Quality System).
"This requires tight control of drivers, their training and refresher training, the management of incidents and corrective measures to prevent such incidents, and the progressive change of driver behaviour into safer and more efficient driving.
The RFA cannot state clearly enough that this driving behaviour is not acceptable.
The RFA requires all its members to take the necessary steps (in terms of fleet and driver management) to deal with all incidents and put in place measures to ensure such actions do not occur or are not repeated.