Toti bus passengers live in fear
He was driving too fast, and when we screamed in fear, he shouted and said the roads are not good
BUS passengers being transported from Winklespruit railway station through the suburban areas of Toti fear for their lives when they board the busses which have been provided by the Passenger Rail Agency of South Africa (Prasa).
The busses have been made available to transport train commuters whose trips have been affected by the washaway of parts of the railway lines during recent storms.
Trains operating south of Winklespruit stop at that station, where passengers board busses which route through Kingsway in Warner Beach, Doonside and Toti to Reunion. At Reunion, the passengers reboard trains to continue their northward trips. However, passengers on these busses live in fear as the drivers allegedly speed and aren’t mindful of the effect of their driving on their passengers.
This follows an accident in which one such bus slammed into a BMW which had to be recovered from the southern bank of the Toti River on Kingsway near the old CBD last Friday, 5 August.
The front of the bus pushed the BMW through the lightweight aluminium railing and onto the southern river bank. The crash took place on the treacherous Toti River bridge bend at about 7.40am. Two tow trucks extricated the wreck of the BMW from the ditch where it was wedged.
The Sun established that the bus was driven by a driver whose licence was questioned by police investigators. The Sun reporter at the scene heard the bus driver being questioned about the validity of his license – specifically whether the code was valid for the double axle passenger bus he had been driving when it ploughed into the BMW. They were heard saying his code C1 license was apparently not valid for the size and weight of the bus he was driving.
The BMW driver was hospitalised along with a bus passenger. Both sustained moderate injuries, according to Netcare 911 paramedics who assessed and transported them to hospital.
“It was fortunate that the driver was at a point where her vehicle came to rest on the northern river bank and not over the river itself,” said Netcare 911 spokesman, Chris Botha.
A passenger from the same bus, who disembarked just a few stops before the accident occured, told how passengers had screamed at the driver that morning. “He was driving too fast, and when we screamed in fear, he shouted and said the roads are not good,” said the woman, who did not want to be named for fear of recrimination. She said the bus lurched violently when the driver encountered any obstructions in the road, because he was driving too fast.
There is still a lack of clarity from the rail agency as to how long the railway line repairs will take.
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