Durban, South Africa – November 28, 2025 – Newly released dashcam footage from a commercial truck has provided a detailed account of a severe multi-vehicle collision that occurred on the N3 highway just before the Marianhill Toll Plaza in KwaZulu-Natal. The incident, which took place on Thursday afternoon, involved multiple heavy vehicles and passenger cars, resulting in significant traffic disruptions and injuries to at least 12 individuals. Emergency services responded promptly, and the South African National Roads Agency (SANRAL) has since initiated an investigation into the contributing factors.
The crash unfolded around 2:45 PM local time on the southbound lane of the N3, approximately 2 kilometers north of the Marianhill Toll Plaza. According to the dashcam recording captured by a truck driver heading toward Durban, the sequence began with a sudden braking maneuver by a white sedan in the middle lane. This vehicle, a Toyota Corolla, abruptly slowed without signaling, forcing the immediate trailing vehicle—a blue Isuzu bakkie—to swerve left to avoid rear-ending it. The bakkie’s evasive action caused it to clip the rear bumper of the Corolla, sending both vehicles into a fishtail pattern.
Moments later, a large articulated truck carrying construction materials, traveling in the rightmost lane at an estimated speed of 80 km/h, encountered the emerging hazard. The dashcam footage shows the truck’s driver applying emergency brakes, but the combination of wet road surfaces from earlier afternoon rain and the high volume of traffic prevented a full stop. The truck collided with the rear of the bakkie at a reduced speed of approximately 40 km/h, causing the bakkie to spin 180 degrees and block the entire southbound carriageway. Debris from the impact, including shattered taillights and scattered tools from the bakkie’s open cargo area, scattered across all three lanes.
The chain reaction escalated when two additional trucks—a fuel tanker and a refrigerated goods vehicle—approached the scene from behind. The fuel tanker, marked with a TotalEnergies logo and transporting 30,000 liters of diesel, managed a partial lane change but struck the side of the spinning bakkie, rupturing its left fuel tank and spilling approximately 500 liters of fuel onto the roadway. No ignition occurred, averting a potential explosion, but the spill created a hazardous slick that contributed to the subsequent impacts. The refrigerated truck, unable to halt in time, rear-ended the fuel tanker, buckling the tanker’s rear chassis and causing a secondary collision with a following Volkswagen Polo sedan.
In total, five vehicles were directly involved in the primary impacts: the initial Toyota Corolla, Isuzu bakkie, construction truck, fuel tanker, and refrigerated truck, with the Volkswagen Polo sustaining glancing damage. Two additional cars—a Hyundai i10 and a Nissan Almera—collided with roadside barriers while attempting to avoid the pileup, bringing the total number of affected vehicles to seven. The dashcam, mounted on the windshield of a white Mercedes-Benz Actros tractor-trailer operated by a logistics company based in Johannesburg, captured the entire 45-second sequence in high definition at 1080p resolution.
Eyewitness accounts corroborated by the footage indicate that traffic volume was elevated due to the pre-holiday rush toward the coast, with vehicles maintaining speeds between 60 and 100 km/h in a 100 km/h zone. The road surface, treated with asphalt resurfacing completed in October 2024, featured fresh lane markings but showed signs of hydroplaning risk from the 5 mm of rain that fell between 1:30 PM and 2:00 PM. Weather records from the South African Weather Service confirm light showers with visibility reduced to 800 meters at the time of the crash.
Emergency response was coordinated by the KwaZulu-Natal Department of Transport and the eThekwini Metro Police. Netstar’s roadside assistance and the SANRAL Traffic Management Center were alerted at 2:50 PM via an automated call from the dashcam-equipped truck’s telematics system. Paramedics from ER24 and Rescue Care arrived on scene by 3:05 PM, treating victims at the location before airlifting two to Netcare King Edward VIII Hospital in Durban. Among the 12 injured, three sustained serious injuries: the driver of the Isuzu bakkie suffered a fractured pelvis and internal bleeding, the passenger in the Volkswagen Polo had multiple rib fractures, and the construction truck driver experienced a severe concussion and lacerations requiring 28 stitches. The remaining nine victims were treated for minor cuts, bruises, and whiplash.
No fatalities were reported, a fact attributed to the rapid deployment of traffic management cones by SANRAL crews, which prevented further rear-end collisions from the northbound lane spillover. The highway was fully closed southbound for four hours, from 3:00 PM to 7:00 PM, diverting traffic via alternative routes such as the M13 Old Main Road and Field’s Hill. This closure impacted over 1,500 vehicles, with economic losses estimated by the Freight Transport Association of South Africa at R2.5 million due to delayed deliveries of perishable goods from the refrigerated truck.
SANRAL spokesperson Reginal Petersen stated in a press release issued at 8:00 PM that the agency is reviewing the dashcam evidence alongside black box data from the involved trucks. “The footage highlights the dangers of abrupt lane changes and the critical need for maintaining safe following distances, especially in adverse weather,” Petersen noted. All commercial vehicles in the incident were compliant with annual roadworthy certificates, with the fuel tanker having undergone its last inspection on September 15, 2025. Toxicology reports on the drivers are pending, but initial breathalyzer tests conducted on-site by traffic officers returned negative results for all parties.
The dashcam video, voluntarily submitted to authorities by the truck driver, a 42-year-old operator with 15 years of experience, has been authenticated by the KwaZulu-Natal Provincial Traffic Police through metadata analysis confirming the timestamp and GPS coordinates at 29.75°S, 30.88°E. This location is a known high-risk stretch of the N3, where 14 similar incidents occurred in 2024, according to SANRAL’s annual safety report, primarily due to gradient changes and merging traffic from the N2 interchange 5 km further north.
In response to the crash, the Road Traffic Management Corporation (RTMC) has scheduled additional speed enforcement patrols along the N3 corridor from now through December 2025, focusing on peak hours between 12:00 PM and 4:00 PM. Vehicle recovery operations, handled by specialized tow trucks from AA Rescue, cleared the wreckage by 6:45 PM, with the fuel spill neutralized using 2,000 liters of absorbent material to prevent environmental runoff into nearby wetlands.
This incident underscores ongoing challenges on South Africa’s national road network, where the N3 accounts for 8% of national freight volume, transporting 25 million tons of goods annually. Data from the RTMC’s 2024 statistics show that rear-end collisions constitute 22% of highway accidents in KwaZulu-Natal, with heavy vehicles involved in 35% of cases. The release of this dashcam footage serves as a key resource for driver training programs initiated by the Logistics Industry Association, which plans to incorporate anonymized excerpts into mandatory safety workshops starting January 2026.
As investigations continue, drivers are advised to monitor SANRAL’s real-time traffic app for updates on the N3, which reported normal flow conditions by 8:00 PM on the day of the crash. Contact details for reporting hazards remain active via the national hotline at 0800 100 101.
