AT about midday on Monday, I witnessed the closest thing to what, I think, would have been a fatal crash and the perpetrator was driving a red Fire Department bakkie.
I was stopped at a red robot at the intersection of Southwell and Wesley Hill road when I saw the Fire Department vehicle going like a bat out of hell towards the red robot. The driver had his red light flashing but no sound of a siren to warn anyone of his approach.
Even then the reckless speed at which the driver approached the robot was absolute madness. If there had been a collision the innocent victim would have taken the impact square on the driver’s side door and I would have been a witness against the Fire Department’s employee in a culpable homicide case.
I don’t think that any emergency vehicle should be allowed to cross a robot controlled intersection (or any other intersection for that matter) in a reckless manner and, by this, I would include ambulances and police vehicles. Rather take an extra one or two minutes to reach the scene of an emergency rather than create the emergency yourself.
Any innocent victim’s family members would rightly feel angry and bitter at being on the receiving end of a totally unnecessary tragedy caused by wanton recklessness.
MARTIN LEONARD
