Speed claims another life

SPEEDING apparently caused the death of Hendrik Jones in Windhoek on Tuesday afternoon when the car he was a passenger in crashed into a lamppost and a wall.

Four young men were driving along Gevers Street in Ludwigsdorf in a gold BMW when the car apparently ran onto the gravel in a sharp corner. It is assumed that the driver then jerked the steering wheel, sending the car skidding across the street and onto the pavement.The BMW hit a lamppost, ripping it completely out of the pavement, but even this was not enough to break its speed.It finally came to a halt when it crashed into the wall of the Eastside Baptist Church, about 50 metres from where it first left the road.Jones, who was sitting in the back seat, and whose age was not known by Police, was killed on impact.The other three men in the car – Andries du Plessis (19), Shaun Awaseb (23) and Bounty Awaseb (27) – sustained only minor injuries and were discharged from hospital yesterday morning.The BMW is a total wreck and all the airbags in the car, front and back, were deployed.News of the accident and the young man’s death spread fast and soon friends gathered at the accident scene, shaking their heads in disbelief, crying and clinging to each other for comfort.People who live in that section of Gevers Street say they have complained to the authorities several times about speeding cars and asked for speed bumps to be installed.They say accidents frequently happen there, especially during university holidays.”In the holidays you can hardly pull out of your driveway because of all the youngsters who are chasing down Gevers Street, turning it into a racecourse, and we have taken up the matter with the City but nothing has been done to date,” said one of the first people on the accident scene.It is assumed that the driver then jerked the steering wheel, sending the car skidding across the street and onto the pavement.The BMW hit a lamppost, ripping it completely out of the pavement, but even this was not enough to break its speed.It finally came to a halt when it crashed into the wall of the Eastside Baptist Church, about 50 metres from where it first left the road.Jones, who was sitting in the back seat, and whose age was not known by Police, was killed on impact.The other three men in the car – Andries du Plessis (19), Shaun Awaseb (23) and Bounty Awaseb (27) – sustained only minor injuries and were discharged from hospital yesterday morning.The BMW is a total wreck and all the airbags in the car, front and back, were deployed.News of the accident and the young man’s death spread fast and soon friends gathered at the accident scene, shaking their heads in disbelief, crying and clinging to each other for comfort.People who live in that section of Gevers Street say they have complained to the authorities several times about speeding cars and asked for speed bumps to be installed.They say accidents frequently happen there, especially during university holidays.”In the holidays you can hardly pull out of your driveway because of all the youngsters who are chasing down Gevers Street, turning it into a racecourse, and we have taken up the matter with the City but nothing has been done to date,” said one of the first people on the accident scene.