Durban - The driver of a minibus taxi is lucky to be alive after he was ejected from the vehicle on Monday after he lost control of the vehicle when he swerved to avoid a cow on Inanda Road.
Specialised Tactical Accident Rescue Team (START) director and spokesperson Warren Brauns said the control room received an emergency call for a taxi that had overturned on Inanda Road.
He said when teams arrived at the scene they found a taxi on its side and the driver of the vehicle was lying outside the vehicle.
“The driver indicated that he had swerved to avoid a cow and due to the wet weather conditions, lost control of the vehicle,” said Brauns.
Brauns said teams initiated primary health care for the driver and then handed him over to partner Netcare911.
“The patient was transported to hospital for further care,” he said.
In a statement earlier this month Dialdirect said wet roads and poor visibility accounted for more than 27% of fatal accidents in SA.
The statement said the Road Traffic Management Corporation most recent annual State of Road Safety report shows that from January to December 2021, poor visibility and wet road surfaces ranked under the top 5 environmental factors that contribute to fatal crashes in South Africa.
“Adopting a proactive approach to wet weather driving safety, making sure that your vehicle is up to the task and adjusting your driving behaviour is absolutely vital,” said head of Dialdirect Insurance Anneli Retief.
Retief said rainy weather also resulted in a proliferation of potholes, putting even more strain on our fragile road infrastructure.
Retief offers the following wet weather driving tips:
- Make sure to have all emergency numbers, including that of your insurer, saved on your phone.
- Make a conscious effort to adjust your speed and following distance. Your car needs more distance to stop on wet roads. Allow at least 4 to 8 seconds between your car and the car in front of you.
- Always turn on your vehicle’s headlights when driving in wet weather. In heavy rain, use the brightest setting for your car’s tail lights to improve visibility to vehicles behind you.
- Make sure that your wiper blades are in good condition and do a good, clean sweep to ensure maximum visibility.
- Avoid the build-up of fog on the inside of your car windows as this dramatically reduces visibility. Use the vehicle’s anti-fog features or open the window slightly.
- Check that you have sufficient tread on your tyres. This minimises the chances of aquaplaning. Though the South African legal limit is a minimum of 1mm of tyre tread, anything below 3mm can greatly increase the risk of aquaplaning.
- Worn shock absorbers also increase the chances of aquaplaning, even with the best of tyres fitted.
- Cloudy and rainy weather makes for poor visibility so take extra care when passing other vehicles. Spray from other vehicles reduces visibility considerably, so be sure to anticipate this.
- Avoid abrupt acceleration, braking and steering movements. Sudden stops and turns may result in skidding.
- Be wary of oily patches on the road. Rain, especially at the beginning of the rainy season, often causes oil that has sunk into the road to rise to the surface, making it extremely slippery.
- Do not drive through flooded areas unless you are sure that the water is below the bottom of your wheel rims. If you have any doubt, don’t drive through the pool of water – rather find an alternative route.
- After driving in heavy rain for some time without applying the brakes or if you drive through standing water, lightly apply the brakes to dry them, especially if the vehicle is fitted with drum brakes.