I watched this accident happening yesterday at about 4pm.

These black taxis are very dangerous. I had my digital camera with me, as is my habit these days and managed to capture these scenes as an accident happened right before me.

I would like to urge people to keep their digital cameras at the ready for any photo opportunities.

I left work early to go to the dentist. I was going down Judith street which meets with Beyers Naude (Formerly D.F. Malan) at a T-Junction.

There were many cars in front of me. As I was looking to the front, I saw a 3 ton truck in the same lane as me. The truck started moving slowly when a minibus taxi came from the right. I heard it hit the truck a glancing blow and watched in amazement as the minibus taxi 180 degrees on to its roof and pass out of sight! It was just like in the movies.

It appeared to me to be just another case of one of these dangerous minibus taxis trying to jump a red robot.

Here are the photos I took just minutes after the accident. I spotted this old woman sitting by the side of the road. Then she took out her cell phone (everyone in S.Africa has a cell phone!). Then I saw more and more women coming out. And then I realised that they had just escaped from the overturned taxi. The taxi is behind them slightly to the left. It is upside down. I think the front of the taxi is facing to the right. It not only flipped on its roof but also turned 180 degrees.

More people piled out of the taxi. The blood is starting to run from their scrapes and wounds. There is blood splashed on the woman’s pink dress. Most of the people in the photo are actually passengers who were in the taxi.

The front of the taxi is damaged. The taxi also seems to have struck a car after hitting the truck. That might explain how the taxi turned 180 degrees around facing backwards.

You can see the blood on the old woman’s face now.

A white woman walked over to help them. Take a close look at the red dots I made in this picture. You can see the checked blue shirt of a man still in the taxi. I actually saw this man completely upside down. I suspect he was being held in place by a seat belt.

After my dentist appointment I went back to see how things were progressing. This was about 1 hour later. The truck didn’t suffer much damage. They moved the taxi out of the road. It is now behind the truck (where the survivors were in the previous pics).

On my way back to the scene of the accident, there was a lot of traffic backed up. Then some cars tried to sqeeze in. This blue car, with registration number BRX… was driven by a young black man. He was trying to drive down the left and to then squeeze in front of a red car driven by a white woman. The white woman was very irritated and she gesticulated at him but he just wanted to shove his way in. The black man then started hanging out of his window shouting at the white woman and making rude signs. The red arrow points to his white cap as he is hanging out of the door making rude signs to the white woman.

Here you can see him more clearly. His head is out of the window and he is looking back at the white woman while showing her “the bird” continually.

This is the white car which the taxi must have struck from behind after striking the bus. The back of it is severely damaged. It is being towed away.

Here is the taxi. It has been righted. Some of its windows and doors had to be removed so as to get all the passengers out.