ARTSCAPE MAN KILLED BY MYCITI BUS - WITNESS TURNED AWAY TELLS DIFFERENT STORY CAPE TOWN | A veteran Artscape worker was killed on his way home from work when a MyCiTi bus hit him in the city centre on Tuesday. Roderick Leonard, 55, was using a pedestrian crossing at the MyCiTi Civic Centre station in Hertzog Boulevard at 4pm to get to the railway station for a train home to Mitchells Plain when the bus struck him. Leonard, a father of four and grandfather, was an employee at Artscape’s wardrobe department for over 30 years and regularly used the crossing to get to and from work. Artscape head Marlene le Roux said his colleagues were traumatised. “It’s very tragic. We can’t imagine what his family is going through because even we still can’t believe that he is gone.” City traffic spokeswoman Maxine Jordaan said Leonard was killed on impact. However the official version of events surrounding the incident is now being pulled into question. A very traumatised female driver saw the bus do an unsafe act. In her eye witness account she said that the bus had jumped the red traffic light. When she offered to give a statement, she was told by the officials on the scene that she should move on as there were enough witnesses. She called Cape Talk 567 radio around 4.20pm. She also said the bus drove over the victim. He landed under the wheels, and was not killed on impact. Police confirmed that a case of culpable homicide had been opened for investigation. Mayoral committee member for transport Brett Herron said he would review CCTV footage to determine what happened. “The driver of the MyCiTi bus is in a severe state of shock and is receiving treatment. “This tragedy once again highlights the importance of safety on our roads. We ask pedestrians to be cautious when crossing designated MyCiTi bus lanes and to do so only at the signalised crossing when the ‘green man’ is flashing,” he said. But in response to the report many online users and commuters have expressed concern about the reckless way that the MyCiti bus drivers conduct themselves on the road. One online comment said: I see how some of the Myciti bus drivers drive specially at the intersection of Milner street and Marine drive in Paarden-eiland where they totally disregard the rules of the road as though they are above the rest of us parked at the four way intersection when they buzz through it has been a thought of mine as to when someone would be injured or killed as this is also an intersection where there are pedestrian crossings and a large volume of cyclists. You would almost think that they feel that they have rite of way no matter what.
Posted on: Wed, 20 Nov 2013 09:52:18 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015