20 dead in bakkie collisions
Paramedics highlight the risk of transporting people on the back of bakkies.
MORE than 20 people have died and no less than 50 injured in bakkie crashes in the past six weeks.
These shocking statistics relate only to incidents attended to by ER24 in South Africa.
ER24 urges the public to consider the implications of transporting people on the back of bakkies or any other open vehicles for that matter.
Standing or sitting on the back of bakkies or open trucks as well as overloading the vehicle can result in serious injuries and death regardless of what speed you are travelling at.
‘You cannot guarantee the safety of your passengers. People should also be aware that sitting on the back of a bakkie with a canopy does not guarantee safety,’ said ER24 spokesperson, Chitra Bodasing.
Bodasing added, paramedics have attended to people who were injured when the canopy of the bakkie they were in detached.
Over the past few weeks paramedics have attended to several incidents involving people who died as a result of being ejected from the back of open vehicles.
Injuries sustained ranged from minor to critical. Some injuries sustained included traumatic amputation, severe head injury and multiple fractures.
Collisions included the death of several children including a baby who was about a year old.
The most recent incidents included that of a bakkie allegedly losing control and colliding with a fence and house in Pietermaritzburg, KwaZulu-Natal, on January 29. Seven children died and several others were injured.
This was followed by another collision that claimed 10 lives on the N3 close to London Road, Gauteng, just two days later.
‘We also urge people to make sure their vehicles are roadworthy, not to drive while under the influence of drugs and alcohol, to make sure they buckle up and ensure children are in the appropriate restraints,’ said Bodasing.
