GONUBIE residents are furious after an elderly pedestrian was injured in a collision with a motorcyclist while using a pedestrian crossing on the suburb’s main road.
Witnesses said the motorcyclist had been speeding along the Gonubie Main Road when he collided with the 88-year-old man.
The accident took place around 8am yesterday near Gonubie Primary School.
The elderly victim was admitted at Frere Hospital with serious head injuries, said provincial health spokesman Sizwe Kupelo.
Kupelo said the man was in the Intensive Care Unit for observation and high care, but there was “no need for alarm”.
A local estate agency staffer, Marietta Oelofse, said she had witnessed the accident.
“We were chatting inside the office, and then I heard a bike opening up. I looked up and saw the old man on the pedestrian crossing and the bike slam into him,” Oelofse said.
“Someone ran to help the biker, who was face down in the road, so we ran to help the old man,” she said, adding that she and other bystanders tried to keep the elderly man warm and stop his bleeding.
“At one point he stopped breathing, and looked like he had a major head injury. Someone resuscitated him,” Oelofse said.
A man in a beige jersey and faded jeans, who would not give his name, said he had resuscitated the old man, and tried to keep him breathing until the ambulance arrived.
Another eyewitness, Liezel Gerstner, said she had been driving along the Gonubie Main road when the motorcyclist overtook her.
“He came down at a hell of a speed,” she alleged.
Oelofse said many drivers did not pay attention to the zebra crossing. “I sit here every day, and people just put foot over the zebra crossing, ” she said.
Gonubie Ratepayers’ Association chairman André Swart said speeding in the suburb was a serious problem.
Swart said he believed the only solution would be to install speed humps.
He also expressed concern about the close proximity of the accident to Gonubie Primary School.
He complained that there was a lack of visible traffic policing in the suburb.
“(The accident) happened at a pedestrian crossing. Drivers must slow down and come to a complete stop. That’s why a pedestrian crossing is there,” Swart said. —
Elderly man run over by bike
Witnesses said the motorcyclist had been speeding along the Gonubie Main Road when he collided with the 88-year-old man.
The accident took place around 8am yesterday near Gonubie Primary School.
The elderly victim was admitted at Frere Hospital with serious head injuries, said provincial health spokesman Sizwe Kupelo.
Kupelo said the man was in the Intensive Care Unit for observation and high care, but there was “no need for alarm”.
A local estate agency staffer, Marietta Oelofse, said she had witnessed the accident.
“We were chatting inside the office, and then I heard a bike opening up. I looked up and saw the old man on the pedestrian crossing and the bike slam into him,” Oelofse said.
“Someone ran to help the biker, who was face down in the road, so we ran to help the old man,” she said, adding that she and other bystanders tried to keep the elderly man warm and stop his bleeding.
“At one point he stopped breathing, and looked like he had a major head injury. Someone resuscitated him,” Oelofse said.
A man in a beige jersey and faded jeans, who would not give his name, said he had resuscitated the old man, and tried to keep him breathing until the ambulance arrived.
Another eyewitness, Liezel Gerstner, said she had been driving along the Gonubie Main road when the motorcyclist overtook her.
“He came down at a hell of a speed,” she alleged.
Oelofse said many drivers did not pay attention to the zebra crossing. “I sit here every day, and people just put foot over the zebra crossing, ” she said.
Gonubie Ratepayers’ Association chairman André Swart said speeding in the suburb was a serious problem.
Swart said he believed the only solution would be to install speed humps.
He also expressed concern about the close proximity of the accident to Gonubie Primary School.
He complained that there was a lack of visible traffic policing in the suburb.
“(The accident) happened at a pedestrian crossing. Drivers must slow down and come to a complete stop. That’s why a pedestrian crossing is there,” Swart said. —
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