Truck Runs Over 5 Cars

The DAF cargo truck firmly sitting on the bonnet of the taxi cab

TRAGEDY nearly occurred when the breaks of a DAF cargo truck failed and ran over five cars in Kumasi around 11am on Thursday.

The fully loaded cargo truck registered GE 2795 V was caught-up in traffic at Suame Magazine, a densely populated area where faulty cars are repaired in the city.

When traffic started moving, the DAF's breaks suddenly failed and the truck started descending a hill at top speed, Richard Karikari of the National Road Safety Commission (NRSC) told DAILY GUIDE .

This caused people in the area to panic and ran for their lives.

Drivers on the same road also left their cars and took to their heels, in a desperate attempt to avoid being hit by the truck.

Karikari said the driver of the truck initially tried to control the direction in which the truck was heading and this prevented his speeding truck from hitting several cars.

He however said that after five minutes, the speed at which the truck was moving started increasing and the driver realised it was impossible to control the vehicle.

Karikari said the speeding truck then ran over four cars, causing extensive damage to them, before it finally rammed into a taxi cab registered GT 7801 W and stopped.

The driver of the taxi cab, which was coming from the opposite direction, saw the DAF coming from afar at top speed so he hurriedly jumped out of his car before it was hit by the truck.

Luckily, the drivers whose cars got hit by the speeding DAF vehicle did not suffer serious injuries.

From I.F. Joe Awuah Jnr., Kumasi