The court has given a widow green light to sue the Road Accident Fund RAF for her husband's death caused by a tyre that had been left on the road by a negligent truck driver who had a tyre burst.
Louise Hartman had taken the Fund to court for it to determine if the abandoned tyre on the side of the road indeed caused the car crash that killed her husband, Helgaard, on the N7 highway near Malmelsbury, Western Cape, in November 2007. The Fund wanted to be absolved in the matter denying that the tyre caused the single-car accident.
According to judge J Ralarala's ruling, Hartman, who was a housewife at the time of her husband's death, had told the court that she was unemployed and financially dependent on the deceased. She said his passing put her in a difficult financial situation. She wanted to lodge a loss of support claim from RAF, but it was contested based on the facts of the cause of the car crash that claimed Helgaard's life.
Hartman had told the Western Cape High Court that her husband had been travelling from their home to the Cape Town International Airport in the early hours of the morning when Helgaard collided with a tyre which overturned his vehicle. His body was found lying on the side of the road.
Nicholas Fortuin who lives near to the site of the crash testified that he had heard a loud bang around 4am while he was sleeping and when he got outside he found Helgaard's vehicle on the side of the road and a tyre not far from it, read the judgment.