Samaritan secures hit-and-run charge
THE QUICK actions of a Good Samaritan may well lead to the successful prosecution of a Durban hit-and-run driver.
Lawrie Macleod, 75, from Durban was driving on the southern freeway, near the old airport, when he was clipped by a truck on Tuesday.
From the middle lane his vehicle spun across the road, hitting the concrete barriers in the centre and spinning back across all the lanes before hitting the wall next to the left-hand lane and coming to a standstill.
Shaken but not badly hurt, Macleod watched as the truck which had hit him drove on. But another Durban resident, Janine Ferreira, saw the accident taking place in front of her and decided to follow the truck.
“It was just very lucky that the road was relatively empty – a lot of people could have been killed as the car flew back and forth across the road. I saw a municipal vehicle pull over next to the crashed car and decided I was going to follow the truck. There was a driver and a passenger in the vehicle – I noticed they looked back towards me and the truck picked up speed,” said Ferreira.
She had already taken note of the registration number, and took the next off-ramp to head back to the accident scene. Lawrie Macleod was amazed when Ferreira pulled up with the registration number.
“This is a perfect example of a Good Samaritan. It’s so easy just to drive on and not get involved,” said Macleod.
Armed with the registration number, he went to the police and has laid a charge.
“The police tracked the truck to a company in Newcastle. It seems the company has denied any involvement regarding the accident,” said Macleod.
On Thursday, Macleod visited Ferreira to give her a thank-you hug, as well as having sent a bunch of flowers.
Ferreira said police have contacted her to make a statement.
The issue of companies hiring casual drivers for their trucks, who then disappear when involved in an accident, came to the fore last week following an accident at Liberty Mall in Pietermaritzburg. A woman was killed when an outof-control truck sped across the parking area of the mall and ploughed into the side of the building and into Absa offices.
Spokesman for Durban City Metro Senior Superintendent Eugene Msomi said that in terms of the Road Traffic Act, where the driver’s identity is unknown, and is suspected to have absconded, the registered owner bears ultimate responsibility and is assumed to have been driving until he provides the details of a person who was driving at a particular time.