The result of badly maintianed roads

[fugglefeet]

Hi all,

We had the misfortune of having an accident in the family on Sunday 14 June 2015 at around 13:50. This happened around 10 kilometres from Memel on the R34 heading towards Vrede. The pictures speak volumes:-

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My father-in-law (75 years old) was driving at the time and we suspect the car sustained a left front blowout as a result of a pothole on the road. He tried to maintain control of the vehicle until he saw it was futile. The car careened through a game farm fence, swerved and rolled 3 times. A taxi stopped and the passengers helped to pry him from the wreck. He sustained cuts and bruises. He went for a check up and X-Rays. He was given the all clear from the doctor on call at Newcastle Medi-Clinic.

Darryl

[Jan Horn]

Glad he ok Darryl.

[fugglefeet]

Thanks Jan. It was a shock to get the call to have to turn back to assist at his accident scene. The car is a write-off and he did lose some belongings in the process, amongst others his Nuvi 2200. I suspect that the GPSr got flung out of the car when it rolled. I'm not to worried about that, as it can be replaced and it wasn't registered on Garmap. If it was, I would have needed to do the registering (he is technologically challenged at his age). All in all, we are glad it's over and now it's just the matter of getting the claim with the insurance sorted out. Momentum have done an outstanding job thus far regarding the claim. They have even been accommodating in allowing us (Karen and I) to handle and register his claim on his behalf. This is partly due to his deafness (result of being a Gunner in the Army) and the fact that this is his first major accident in a very long time.

to Momentum for their service so far.

Darryl

[F.Viljoen]

Sorry to hear about this Darryl, but glad he survived and is OK.

How did he managed to get on the other side of the barrier?

[cliddell]

Wow! Very fortunate to only have cuts and bruises after that! Glad your FIL is OK.

Just last night I was looking at an advert in Bike SA for the "Bike Friendly" Memel Hotel. I was saying to my wife that next time we ride to JHB we should venture back on this road "because they must, by now, have completed refurbishment..." and we could try out the hotel.

Well your post has dispelled all thoughts we had...

[fugglefeet]

Sorry to hear about this Darryl, but glad he survived and is OK.

How did he managed to get on the other side of the barrier?

HI Frans,

There was a game farm fence before the barrier and the car careened off the road, missing the gate and the barrier. The picture below shows the barrier and the gate.

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Darryl

[fugglefeet]

Wow! Very fortunate to only have cuts and bruises after that! Glad your FIL is OK.

Just last night I was looking at an advert in Bike SA for the "Bike Friendly" Memel Hotel. I was saying to my wife that next time we ride to JHB we should venture back on this road "because they must, by now, have completed refurbishment..." and we could try out the hotel.

Well your post has dispelled all thoughts we had...

Hi Clive,

There are still stretches of the road that are in a bad state. Looking at the photo that I have posted, you will see one of the boards for one of stop/go points where they are busy with refurbishment. Other stretches of the road from just outside Vrede to the KZN border have been resurfaced and still need to have road markings painted. If you can avoid for now traveling the R34 from Vrede to the KZN border, it would be advisable to do so. If it's otherwise unavoidable, the recommendation is to be extra careful along that section of road. We heard during this week that after my father-in-law's wreck was collected at around 16:15 Sunday afternoon, the driver of an Audi A8 came through the same fence at around 17:00 the same afternoon, also as a result of a blowout from a pothole on the same stretch of road. The passenger in the Audi A8 was supposed to get a lift with us to and from Newcastle. He also was unfortunate to end up in an accident just later the afternoon.

Darryl

[F.Viljoen]

OK that last pic answer my question. So the car is actually facing the direction it came from!

[fugglefeet]

OK that last pic answer my question. So the car is actually facing the direction it came from!

Frans,

More or less the case. If you look at the picture of the road, you will see tracks where the car left the road.

Darryl