Clean-up under way after N12 motor vehicle accident

Issued by SANRAL
Johannesburg, Mar 23, 2017

A section of the N12 between Emalahleni and Johannesburg has been closed due to a 22-vehicle pile-up. The incident happened yesterday at around 7am on the eastbound lane.

The incident was caused by misty weather conditions, which led to 17 light motor vehicles and five trucks colliding after Snake Road. In the interest of road safety, the South African National Roads Agency (SANRAL) has had to implement temporary precautionary measures by creating a detour.

SANRAL dispatched eight on-road services (ORS) vehicles to the scene from the Jet Park and Modderfontein satellite centres.

Vusi Mona, SANRAL's head of communications, said there was glass and debris scattered for about 3km after the incident. There are no fatalities, and SANRAL's Routine Road Maintenance unit was on the scene. The eastbound lane remained closed until 11am, while the clean-up and investigation process continued. Only the slow lane was closed on the westbound lanes.

"We thank the residents and road users for their understanding and we urge motorists to be patient while the clean-up process takes place. We can assure you that every effort is being made to fast-track the process in order to re-open the road as soon as possible," said Mona.