‘Driver is the cause’ of taxi horror crash

Steven Tau

Gauteng police maintained yesterday that the total number of people who died following a horrific accident involving a minibus taxi on the old Vereeniging road on Thursday morning, was eight and not nine as reported earlier.

The Toyota Quantum taxi was en route to Johannesburg from Orange Farm when the driver lost control of the vehicle near Walkerville.

According to eyewitnesses, the taxi was travelling at excessive speed.

It moved from the fast lane to the slow lane, where another vehicle was travelling at slower speed. The speeding taxi driver then allegedly moved towards the emergency lane, where he collided into a concrete bus terminal.

The accident, which happened just after 5am on Thursday, left several passengers critically injured.

Commenting on the driver, Gauteng police spokesperson Kay Makhubela said a case of culpable homicide would be opened.

“The driver, who is not under police guard in hospital, will be taken in for questioning once he is discharged and once the police have concluded the [preliminary] investigation,” Makhubele said.

“The matter will then [likely] be transferred to the prosecutors who will decide on the way forward,” Makhubela said.

The SA National Taxi Council has since condemned the accident, calling on all taxi drivers to use it (the accident) as a lesson for safe driving.

Several other accidents were reported in different parts of Gauteng this week, claiming lives.

In Benoni, Ekurhuleni, a vehicle crashed into a tree, leaving one child dead and several injured.

A collision between two light motor vehicles on the R553 in Vanderbijlpark, south of Johannesburg left one man dead and another man seriously injured.

The SA National Taxi Council has condemned the incident, calling on all taxi drivers to use it as a lesson.