The wreckage of The Chronicle Editor, Mduduzi Mathuthu’s BMW X5, the cow he hit and the Mitsubishi Colt he collided with along Plumtree Road on Sunday night
Whinsley Masara Chronicle Reporter
THE Chronicle Editor, Mduduzi Mathuthu, cheated death on Sunday around 9PM after his BMW X5 hit a cow, side-swiped an oncoming vehicle and almost fell into Gwayi River along Plumtree Road.
He said the crash occurred as he approached the Gwayi River Bridge towards Redwood.
He was in the company of his four nephews and a niece. Mathuthu is the only one who got injured in his car as he suffered friction burns on his right hand. Doctors have however, given him the all-clear for internal injuries.
“When I dipped my lights for oncoming traffic, a cow suddenly appeared bang middle of the road. I tried to avoid it but hit it with the front right side and it died right away.
“The front right tyre burst on impact and the vehicle swerved right. I battled to avoid a head-on collision with the other car, a Mitsubishi Colt, unfortunately the two cars sideswiped. The Colt just but cleared the bridge but was left almost hanging over it,” said Mathuthu.
He said he miraculously brought his car to a stop as he cleared the whole bridge without his front right wheel.
Mathuthu said if he had not sideswiped the Colt, he would have driven over the bridge.
“It’s days and events like this that remind you there’re benevolent forces at work that we know nothing about that watch over us,” he said.
The Colt driver was treated for pain in the neck while one of his passengers was reported to have fractured his arm.
The driver of the South Africa-registered Colt, it later emerged, is Maxwell Sibanda and is known to Mathuthu.
He runs a bar in Mahole, Filabusi.
Recently, the Traffic Safety Council of Zimbabwe launched a livestock branding project with reflective ear tags after realising that the greater percentage of accidents are caused by stray animals on the roads.
The move was aimed at minimising vehicle-animal collisions on the country’s major highways.