Poorly marked sinkhole plays significant role in Friday night Discovery accident
The hole at the corner of Honeyball Avenue and Melvile Avenue marked with one single yellow barrier
An unexpected obstacle has created a domino effect of Friday night chaos.
Preparing for a night out, young motorist Corrie van Niekerk’s weekend was ruined by an abrupt collision of metal and glass on October 16. The 18-year-old Hoërskool Bastion matric learner was on his way to a friend’s house just after 19:00 when the car travelling beside him made a sudden and unexpected swerve, resulting in Corrie crashing his Opel Corsa into the rear of the Honda Accord that now occupied his lane.
The two motorists were brought together not by mechanical failures of their vehicles or apparent reckless driving, but an unrepaired sinkhole in the middle of the busy road they were travelling. On the eastbound strip of Honeyball Avenue, right after Melville Avenue is a deep sinkhole that has only a plain yellow barricade in front of it to warn oncoming motorists.
Both drivers escaped any serious injuries with Corrie only needing to go to hospital for a routine check. His vehicle was badly damaged but any attempts to get the particulars of the other motorist proved problematic. “He told us he was driving a client’s car and that his friends were coming to fetch him,” said Corrie, who claims the man only stopped his car closer to the Christiaan de Wet Road traffic lights and would not get out.
A family in a nearby home came to inspect the scene, as did Corrie’s friend and his father, Kelvin and Diederik Harkema. Wanting to properly document the scene, Diederik went back to his house a short distance away to fetch a few items and returned to an argument between the parties involved in the accident. Arriving to a frantic scene and moving between parked cars, Diederik would unfortunately test the depth of the sinkhole.
His fall into the sinkhole would leave Diederik far more injured than the motor vehicle accident victims as he would sustain a cut foot, multiple fractures on his ribs, severe bruising on his torso and bleeding on his lung caused by ricocheting through the rim of the sinkhole. Measured with a laser distanced measurer in the daylight, the hole is just under 1,7 metres deep with caverns expanding in all directions under the tarmac.
Questions were raised as to the adequacy of the warning signs around the hole, and Johannesburg Roads Agency (JRA) was contacted for insight on a plan to repair the road, but none has been forthcoming. Ward 84 councillor, Gert Niemand, did offer some explanation, saying, “JRA informs that they are awaiting final approval on the appointment of the contractor to repair the sink hole”.
The result is one seriously injured man unable to work and contemplating legal action, a mildly injured young man with a curtailed freedom, two damaged vehicles and anxious parents. Corrie’s frustrated yet relieved mother, Ronel, hoped this could serve as a warning, saying “If the barrier was clearly marked this could have been avoided. We do not want something like this to happen to someone else.”
