Chaos greeted the Bains Kloof Pass again on Tuesday when a courier van crashed into a water culvert around a corner from the direction of Wellington.
The accident was reported just after 10:00 in which a Bains Kloof resident Andy Connell told Paarl Post that the courier was allegedly speeding.
“The courier vehicle was driving too fast and caused its left wheel to derail into the water culvert on the side of the road.”
He said that it seemed as if the driver tried to regain control of the vehicle to get back on the road.
“But due to the speed he was travelling, his vehicle crashed and got split into two,” Connell reported on scene.
Photos of the accident site shows a bakkie with its front buried in the vegetation along the road, while the vehicle’s canopy was ripped off in the collision.
“The driver seemed to be okay and was able to get out of the bakkie by the time I reached the scene. The vehicle sustained far worse damage with its canopy and parcels scattered in the road behind it.”
Connell explained that there were two courier vehicles that initially travelled together.
“It almost looked as if they we racing each other. I’d say they were travelling 200m apart with one in front of the other. After the first bakkie crashed, the other courier simply stopped next to it. They quickly moved parcels from one bakkie to the other, and the other driver was soon on his way and left the scene.”
He added that courier companies are regularly fellow culprits of truckers causing havoc on the pass.
“Courier companies come racing through the pass from Wellington’s side. I watch them race through here as if the devil is chasing them. I’m completely hopeless at this stage, because the authorities are not doing enought to stop this madness.”
As regularly reported by the Paarl Post, Connell added that yet another truck got stuck shortly after the accident was reported on Tuesday morning, about 2-3km inward from Wellington around 11:00.
“This literally happens daily now, since there were two interlink trucks that got stuck in the pass on separate occasions on Saturday and Sunday.”
The Paarl Post again wrote to the Department of Transport and Public Works to confirm the accident, and again address the daily delays caused by long distance trucking companies.
No feedback had been received by the time of publication.
