The driver and conductor of the runaway truck that crashed in New Montrose on Tuesday suffered only minor injuries after they fell out of the vehicle, which continued for 400 feet before it crashed.
Police say that the owner of the truck — TN818, Luhis Browne, of North Union, was driving the vehicle when the accident occurred sometime after 4 p.m.
The other occupant was 34-year-old Reneke Primus of Diamond Estate.
Both men were thrown from the vehicle and were taken by ambulance to the Milton Cato Memorial Hospital, where they were patients up to Wednesday morning.
Police say they sustained no life-threatening injuries, with Browne nursing injuries to his chest, right side, and right elbow, while Primus sustained injuries to his head and back.
Police say that preliminary investigations suggest that the accident might have been caused by oil on the road, which was compounded by rainfall immediately before.
They say that the truck was empty and they found visible evidence of oil on the surface of the road, adding that the driver said that the vehicle’s braking mechanism did not fail.
The accident occurred along the stretch of road between the Central Water and Sewerage Authority (CWSA) and the southern gate to the Botanical Gardens, near Windsor Primary School.
A witness, Azad Frederick, told iWitness News that he was standing outside the CWSA headquarters when he saw the truck travelling south, toward Kingstown.
Frederick said that when the truck got to then American University of St. Vincent — just above CWSA — it skidded a little to the right.
“As it reached Water Authority, it turned, skid turned, you can say … and then went into the wall,” Frederick recounted.
The first crashed into a private home next to which a preschool is located.
Frederick told iWitness News that when the truck hit the stone and mortar concrete retaining wall outside the house, the driver fell out of the vehicle.
When the then runaway truck came back onto the road, the tail of the truck struck the perimeter wall of another house and the other occupant of the truck fell out.
“And then the truck continued on its course without any driver, it the lamp pole and stopped by the wall right here,” Frederick said, pointed to the truck, which was pinned near to a damaged land pole.
Before coming to a final stop the truck had also knocked out another land pole, triggering a block out in the area.
Utility workers took some five hours to return electricity to the affected area, which ran from the southern gate of the Botanical Gardens to Grand Gate in Lowmans Hill.
The area where the accident occurred is generally packed with students and other persons waiting for transportation to the leeward side of St. Vincent around the time that the accident occurred.
However, the area might have been empty because of the rain.
Frederick told iWitness News that at the time of the accident, there were only three persons in the area — he and two CWSA workers.
Watch below our Facebook Live report on the accident:
Note of caution!!!
Drivers gotta be careful now it is the rainy season. The road does have a lot of rubbery and slippery build up from that would have accummulated during the dry season. Hence the road surface would be somewhat oily and the slightest drizzle of rain can cause problems for vehicles.