Fists flew in Honeydew in Johannesburg on Friday morning -‒ Car-Free Day — as a motorist and a taxi driver fought each other in a bout of road rage.
Minibus taxi drivers had to be chased from the scene as ”chaos” broke out when they rushed to their colleague’s aid, said chief superintendent Wayne Minnaar from the Johannesburg metro police.
Minnaar said the taxi driver had been bleeding profusely from a cut above his eye and had laid a charge of malicious damage to property at the Honeydew police station. The driver of the car cut both his hands and was taken to the Flora Clinic.
Minaar said both drivers would be charged with affray, which means breaching of the peace by fighting in public.
The altercation occured opposite the Clearwater Mall at about 7am, said West Rand police spokesperson Inspector Zelda Viviers.
”At this stage we can’t say what happened … I can’t go on allegations at this stage, because nothing can be confirmed.”
However, according to Minnaar, the fight started on the slipway off Hendrik Potgieter Road at the intersection with Christiaan de Wet Road.
Minaar said the taxi driver was in the emergency lane and the driver of a grey BMW wanted to use the slipway.
”The taxi driver wouldn’t allow him to turn and there was a confrontation between the drivers,” Minnaar said.
”[It was] so intense that a little distance further on, they got out and started fighting physically,” he said.
Both threw punches at each other.
The BMW’s front windscreen was shattered in the fight and the taxi’s front right window was also smashed.
”Metro police arrived and chased away all the other taxi drivers,” said Minnaar. The seven vehicles had been blocking the road and ”causing chaos”, he said.
”They were shouting and screaming”. – Sapa