Drunk drivers suck!

On Friday, 14 December 2012, a friend and I went for coffee at Seattle Coffee in Menlyn Shopping Centre. My friend’s name is Jonathan David Dunbar Thorogood (hereafter referred to as Jonathan). At approximately 22:00 we left the Shopping Centre and entered Atterbury Road to get onto the N1 North. It was raining heavily and traffic stopped on the N1 onramp. I halted behind a Silver Volkswagen Polo. The Silver Polo was driven by Pheaha Godfrey Maloba (hereafter referred to as Godfrey). There were three or four cars in front of the Polo. All the cars were stopping because of the traffic flow and rain. At approximately 22:15 a Hilux drove into my rear, which caused my car to plough into the Silver Polo in front of me. The driver of the Hilux was later identified as John and the passenger in the Hilux is John’s wife/spouse, Daleen. 

The Hilux then reversed, went over the right curb and drove past myself and the Polo. I then passed the Polo in pursuit of the bakkie. Jonathan identified the bakkie as a blue Toyota Hilux. The Hilux was weaving from lane to lane and speeding, almost driving into me as I got next to them to show him to pull him over. The Polo followed me and we attempted to slow the Hilux’s driver down, and pull him over. All three vehicles involved in the accident then pulled over just past the Pretoria/N4 off-ramp, about 5km from the accident scene. Godfrey and I got out of our vehicles, and as we were walking towards the Hilux, the driver sped off. The Polo was right behind the Hilux, and I pursued the two vehicles. We were all travelling on the N1 North. My vehicle was unsteady and pulling to the left.

At the Zambezi turn-off the Hilux left the N1 freeway in the direction of the toll gates. He was driving in the right-hand lane (the fast lane) on the highway and then suddenly turned off on the Zambezi off-ramp. The Polo drove in front of the Hilux and then slowed him down until he was forced to stop, about 50 meters before the tollgates. I stopped right behind the Hilux and blocked him from the back. Godfrey opened the Hilux’s door and removed the keys from the ignition. We all got out of our vehicles and as John got out he was stumbling and smelled of alcohol. His speech was slurred and he did not realise what was going on. He was questioning us in respect of forcing him to stop. When my friend told him to look at the damage on the Camry that he caused and failing to stop after an accident, he went to the back of my car. He returned to the Hilux and lit a cigarette.  We phoned the police and waited on their arrival. It was clear that he was very drunk, not realising what was going on. Daleen pleaded that we must not inform the police, and that they would take care of the damages.

I walked to the security office at the tollgate and requested the personnel to call the Metro Police. About an hour later the Metro Police arrived at the same time as the lawyer of John. We were requested by the police to go to the Sinnoville Police Station. John van Niekerk was taken to hospital to have his blood-alcohol levels tested. Godfrey and I filled out the Accident report AR127/12/2012, and received our case number CAS250/12/2012 relating to the drunken driving charge. At the Police station Daleen said that John is a mechanic and will fix my car, as they did not have insurance.

At the time of the accident it was dark but Atterbury road and the N1 was well lit. It was raining and the tarmac was wet. The visibility was good. My vehicle was in a roadworthy condition and all the lights were working. The damage to the back of my vehicle which was caused by the Hilux is serious and I suspect that the chassis is bent. The Hilux missed my tow-bar and damage to the boot is serious. The front left bumper, fender and light are also broken from bumping into the VW Polo. The Hilux was damaged front centre and on our way to Sinnoville Police I noticed that the Hilux overheated.