A head-on collision along Schonland Street in the Industrial Area on Tuesday morning, 18 March 2025, attracted bystanders who gathered to witness the unfolding events. The damaged vehicles—a Mercedes-Benz and a minibus taxi.
The collision happened shortly before 7:30 am as the two vehicles travelled in opposite directions along the road.
The Mercedes-Benz driver, despite minor injuries, provided an account, and explained, “I was driving up the road, while the taxi was coming from the opposite direction. There is a large pothole in the road, and I saw the taxi driver attempt to avoid it and he swerved onto my lane to miss the pothole,” he stated.
Faced with the taxi veering into his path, the Mercedes-Benz driver reacted to avoid the collision. However, despite his efforts to steer clear, he explained that their vehicles met with a forceful impact, causing extensive damage to both.
Remarkably, neither the Mercedes-Benz driver nor the taxi driver sustained serious injuries.
Paramedics, traffic officials, and tow truck operators arrived promptly to address the scene. Amid the response, a bystander raised concerns about Newcastle’s deteriorating roads. “The roads are just getting worse, and this could have been avoided if the roads were in a better condition. One day, someone is going to get seriously hurt because of all the potholes,” the onlooker commented.
Charles Steyn of Magenta Emergency Medical Services reinforced this view, stressing the need for immediate action. “When responding to calls, emergency services don’t always know the full extent of the emergency until we get there. This sees us rushing to a scene, with local motorists making way for us. But then there is a pothole and this results in damages to the ambulance, and the responding emergency team then needs to call another emergency medical services team, and all this takes time, with a patient waiting for emergency medical care,” Steyn explained.
He further added that even when paramedics reach a scene without incident, they must navigate Newcastle’s roads carefully to reach the nearest hospital. “Hitting a pothole with a patient in the ambulance can cause secondary injuries,” Steyn noted, highlighting the negative impact that potholes could have on those needing emergency medical treatment.
As the local road infrastructure has worsened in recent weeks due to torrential rainfall, Newcastillian News has reached out to the Newcastle Municipality to clarify when and how it will tackle the numerous potholes affecting local roads.
The Municipality’s Communications Unit is expected to provide an update this week on its plans and timeline for addressing these road conditions.
As this remains a developing story on the state of Newcastle’s roads, what are your thoughts on the above? Share your views in the comment section below.
5 Responses
It really is a huge concern, these potholes getting bigger by the day and with the rainy conditions it worsens. More and more accidents are caused by potholes. Its damage to our cars and who gets to fix it not the municipality???? They need to take this matter serious and start repairing our roads for everyone’s safety and wear and tear on our cars! Gatvol!!!!
Lucky u were driving A MERC or you have been
Dead.
Good on MERCEDES.
TAXISS SHOULD BE TAKE OFF THE ROAD.
THEY ARE DANGEROUS 2 PEOPLES LIVES THERE OWN PEOPLE. THEY JUST CUT U OFF ALL THE TIME. WELL TO THE TAXISS THAT DRIVE WELL.
Very bad potholes going to madadeni hospital, with a pothole outside the hospital.
Potholes very deep and wide with others around them
Poor supervision with the repairs of potholes. They don’t compact it good enough when they repair it and that allows the water to go inside when it rains. 99% of potholes go open after a rain fall. Even the repairs on sewerage. They do quick fixes and never go back to fix it properly. Road cleaning, again supervisor problems, they will not think of solutions. Just look at the water in Allen Street after a rain fall. Students have to walk in the road to get around the water because the don’t think off channel the water off the road.
It is not just potholes. The municipality has made trenches in numerus places and broken up the tar to do so called repairs and years later is still not repaired, now it is becoming a deathtrap in spite of community members efforts to try make it better. Please do us a favour and travel the entire Agate ave and sre for yourself