Driver killed, 3 injured in four-car crash

A Pretoria motorist was killed and three others seriously injured in a four-car crash outside the city on the N4.

The accident near Watermeyer off-ramp saw emergency officials closing off the western-bound lanes of the N4 for several hours as they battled to free the injured from wreckage and clear the scene on Thursday.

The accident is believed to have occurred when the driver of a Peugeot 207 apparently lost control of his vehicle and crashed head-on into a Toyota Conquest, according to the police.

The drivers of a Jaguar and a Land Rover narrowly escaped serious injury when they crashed into the Conquest as it spun across the highway.

Police spokesman Captain Jan Sepato said the driver of the Peugeot was killed when his car crashed into the Toyota then landed on its roof.

"Two of the three occupants in the Toyota Conquest were seriously injured in the crash and were taken to Steve Biko Academic Hospital," he said.

Sepato said that the other motorists sustained only slight injuries.

Ruan Vermaak, Lifemed Ambulance Services spokesman, said that two of the occupants of the Toyota Conquest had to be cut from the wreckage by Tshwane Emergency Services officials using the jaws of life.

He said the drivers from the other vehicles luckily sustained only minor injuries

Vermaak said the western-bound lanes of the N4 were closed while emergency workers freed the injured from the wreckage and cleared the scene.

• This article was originally published on page 4 of The Pretoria News on August 21, 2009