Lowmans family escapes destruction of house

A family of six narrowly avoided having its home crushed by a crane on Monday morning, when the vehicle tipped over the edge of the main road and severed a major water pipeline.{{more}}

The accident happened just before 10 am on Monday, August 8, on the main road passing through Lowmans (Leeward) – a short distance away from the Maryfield Hospital at Gunn Hill.

One of the family’s neighbours, who goes by the alias ‘Culture’, said that he witnessed the incident while he was walking his dogs.

Culture recalled that a truck was blocking traffic in the lane heading towards Kingstown when an impatient driver overtook two other vehicles and the truck to get past.

He said that he tried to warn the reckless driver that the crane, which belongs to Eustace Engineering, was approaching around the corner, but he was ignored.

According to Culture, the crane driver swerved to avoid hitting the oncoming vehicle, skidding on wet grass, when the brakes were applied.

The Lowmans resident said that the incident unnerved him because it reminded him of a past incident when he assisted a driver who was disembowelled when his vehicle rolled over a bank at St. Andrew’s mountain.

Culture said that the reckless driver was driving a Suzuki Escudo at the time.

“He didn’t even stop,” said Culture. “He just kept going!”

The crane driver, Robert Rene Jr., who managed to exit the vehicle without injury, confirmed the chain of events that Culture had outlined.

“By the time I saw the jeep, I just had to swerve,” said Rene.

He said that although he was not scared when the accident happened, he was relieved that no serious harm befell him or the family in the house below.

Head of the family Elizabeth McDowall told SEARCHLIGHT that she was resting when the accident occurred, and her two young sons were at home with her.

McDowall, a market vendor, said that she was initially scared when she looked out of her window to see the precariously-perched crane looming above her house.

She said that she found it weird that she had woken suddenly at 3 am that day – having dreamt that a vehicular accident had occurred nearby.

However, once she realised that they were in no immediate danger, she calmed down.

In the five years that she has been renting the house, McDowall said that a vehicle has never veered off the road in that spot before.

Another neighbour, Claudette Commissiong, berated drivers such as the one who caused the accident.

She complained that too many drivers travel at high speed along the narrow main road, and do not exhibit enough caution when over-taking.

A resident in that area for almost 30 years, she said that many accidents have occurred along that stretch and the corner before.

“The drivers [are] too ignorant!” said a highly annoyed Commissiong.

“If people don’t cooperate with each other on the roads, accidents will keep happening.”