Man buried in rubble during accident

The truck was carrying building rubble.

Chairperson of President Park Resident Association John Gainsford said the driver sustained minor head injuries however a passenger, who was sitting on the rubble in the back of the truck at the time of the accident, fell off the truck along with most of the rubble that the truck was carrying.

Gainsford said the man had to be uncovered from the rubble and removed. He was unconscious but emergency services paramedics who attended the scene supported his spine and stabilised him at the scene before transporting him to a local hospital.

“I suspect they were looking to dump their load somewhere in President Park. Metro police and Joburg emergency services were at the scene within minutes. Johannesburg Roads Agency was contacted to raise their standby crew to clean up the spill, but by midnight they had not arrived,” said Gainsford.

He said in the last few years at least six taxis had driven through the electric fence at the T-junction on Fouche Street while using the road as a short-cut through President Park to access Rabie Ridge and surrounding areas.

“One taxi managed to fly over the 1.8m electric fence without damaging it and came to rest against a large tree inside a President Park plot,” said Gainsford.

He said he had made several requests to the roads agency to have speed-calming measures installed on the road. He said a speed bump and a barrier at the bottom of the steep road was also needed.

“Better still, this agricultural road should be closed to through-traffic. Will this near death accident motivate the Johannesburg Road Agency to do something? Metro police should also be provided with substantially more resources to empower them to rid our roads of all unroadworthy vehicles,” said Gainsford.