Taxi driver arrested, 15 hurt in flurry of Bay accidents
Fifteen people were injured during rush hour in four separate crashes across Nelson Mandela Bay on Tuesday morning.
One person was seriously injured and a minibus taxi driver arrested.
Police spokesperson Captain Johan Rheeder said one of the larger crashes was at 7.45am, which led to a threevehicle pile-up in Chelsea Road that left six people with minor injuries. All three vehicles were wrecked.
Rheeder said the accident happened when a bakkie towing a trailer stopped in the road to turn and another bakkie allegedly ploughed into the back of the trailer.
“A third vehicle then collided into the two car pile-up,” Rheeder said.
This was near the scene of a crash on Monday in which two people were killed and seven injured when a bakkie transporting construction workers rolled in Chelsea Road while en route to Sardinia Bay.
At about 7.15am on Tuesday, a taxi rode into the back of a bakkie at the intersection of Commercial and Rundle roads in Korsten.
“The bakkie had stopped at the intersection when a minibus taxi collided into the back of [it],” Rheeder said.
“Seven people sustained slight injuries and were taken to hospital.”
At about 7.30am, metro police arrested a minibus taxi driver when he allegedly knocked over a pedestrian in Stanford Road, Gelvandale.
Metro police chief Yolande Faro said the 46-year-old driver was allegedly speeding and driving recklessly in the IPTS lane when the vehicle hit the pedestrian.
“The driver was arrested and the 37-year-old pedestrian taken to hospital in a serious condition,” she said.
Faro said the pedestrian suffered a fracture to his right leg and a shoulder injury.
The taxi driver will appear in court on Wednesday.
Bay EMS head and paramedic Ashwell Botha said that shortly after 8am, another accident happened in Dijon Road, Lorraine.
One person was slightly injured.