A speeding Georgetown/Timehri route minibus is alleged to have been the cause of a five-vehicle accident last night at Bagotstown, East Bank Demerara.
Passengers of the bus were said to have suffered minor injuries owing to the vehicle toppling several times before coming to a stop.
The vehicles involved in the accident were a blue Pitbull Route 42 minibus (registration number unknown), a grey Mazda car # PPP 285, a black Spacio car # PNN 9362, a grey car # PTT 9389 and a second minibus (route and registration number unknown). The accident occurred minutes after 6 pm along the western drive lane of the East Bank Demerara Highway in the vicinity of a vulcanizing shop.
According to the driver of another car who was not involved in the accident, the Spacio car # PNN 9362 was parked in front of her with its hazard lights on as the driver was trying to jump-start her car. The woman who resides in Bagotstown said she and her fiancé were headed out when she realized her car wasn’t starting. As such they summoned the help of the driver of # PNN 9362.
“When I heard the impact, I froze. I’m very traumatized because the accident happened right next to me,” said the woman.
Meanwhile, Marcus Fraser of Timehri who is the driver of # PPP 285 shared that his car was badly damaged owing to the accident. Fraser who was in the company of his girlfriend said that he was driving along the road when he saw # PNN 9362 with its hazard lights on and pulled in behind the car and stopped. Fraser said he heard the speed with which the driver of the bus was coming and thought it best to pull over to let him pass but the bus instead ran into the back of his car.
“This Spacio, he was parked and had on his hazard lights and I coming and seeing that these ones on the outside [speeding] coming, so I waited until they pass me but same time the bus lash me…” said Fraser. As a result of the bus crashing into him, Fraser crashed into the Spacio.
Asked whether he has insurance, Fraser said the car is a second-hand car he purchased on Saturday. With no insurance he pointed out that the driver of the bus will have to cover the cost of the damage.
The driver of the car, PTT # 9389 (name undisclosed) said he was driving on the outside of the western drive lane when the bus braced him into the median resulting in damage to the car.
“I was driving alongside of the bus and he was about to overtake and whilst overtaking, he lash me front [of the car] and I skate on the side… He was trying to overtake and was leaving his lane to head over to my lane when he hit me… me whole side [of the car] graze and the front wheel blow out then he end up knock somebody else,” said the man. He noted that vehicle he was driving at the time belongs to an official in the joint services. He added that the car is fully covered by insurance.
He went on to say that since the accident, he’s heard of three different drivers. “As it is presently, the bus get three drivers. The original driver done gone so somebody else covering as the driver,” said the man. He posited that the man who is claiming to be the driver is not the same man who was driving the bus when the front side of the car he was driving was crashed into.
A resident in the area who was assisting with the jump-starting of the car is counting his lucky stars. The man said he was on the outside of the car trying to get the car started when he heard the impact and jumped out of the way. He pointed out that a nearby CCTV camera should have footage of the accident.
A short distance behind this accident, police were also investigating a second accident involving a Georgetown/Mahaica minibus # BTT 1791 and a pickup GXX # 9864 which was pulling a trailer # TYY 9604 which was carrying a boat. The accident was said to have occurred minutes after the five-vehicle accident. No one was injured in this accident.
According to eyewitnesses, the pickup was driving along the inside lane of the western drive lane on the highway at Bagotstown pulling the trailer with the boat when the bus tried to undertake and crashed into the trailer. Persons at the scene of the accident said it is believed that the Route 44 minibus was returning from a day out at a creek on the Linden/Soesdyke Highway.
