BLOEMFONTEIN – A morning rush hour crash involving a Toyota Quantum minibus taxi, two bakkies (a Ford Ranger and GWM), and a cyclist left one bakkie driver rushed to a Bloemfontein hospital for emergency treatment after injuries were sustained.

The accident occurred Wednesday morning at the traffic lights of the Dr Belcher Road and McGregor Street intersection, at about 07:13. Three others involved escaped unharmed. They were the taxi driver, a teacher at the Mangaung Primary School who was driving a GWM bakkie, and a cyclist.

The driver of the Ford Ranger was rushed to hospital for treatment. His bakkie’s airbag deployed following the collision with the taxi. The traffic lights were still functioning at the time of the accident.

“As soon as the crash happened, someone hurried to open the passenger door to steal my work laptop instead of helping. The person vanished from the scene and this act just added to my trauma from the accident,” said the traumatised teacher. She said she was glad to be alive considering the impact of the accident that left her bakkie a write-off. The teacher was alone in the bakkie.

Speeding is suspected to be the cause of the accident, evidenced by damage to all three vehicles, including the minibus taxi whose driveshaft broke during a collision with the two bakkies. One of the eyewitnesses said the taxi then twisted and overturned, landing on its side.

According to a witness, the taxi, heading eastbound, first crashed into the white Ford Ranger, which was heading northbound, and then ploughed into the driver of the GWM bakkie’s door, who was heading south. A cyclist was caught in the accident and had one of his wheels damaged beyond repair. The accident impacted on the flow of traffic at the intersection connecting various routes in the city.

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