South Africa: Driver pulls over to watch ducks, causes multi-car pileup

GlobalPost

JOHANNESBURG, South Africa — The latest hazard on Johannesburg's notorious roads: cute ducks.

A motorist who pulled over to watch the ducks waddling along a highway Friday caused a nine-car pileup that injured 17 people, paramedics said.

The accident on the N12 in Ekurhuleni, a municipality next to Johannesburg, was originally reported to have involved 26 cars, the South African Press Association reported.

Police told SAPA that many of the collisions were caused by drivers who were distracted by the accident scene. One of the vehicles involved in the pileup was a metro police cruiser.

Four people had broken bones, while the other 13 sustained cuts and bruises.

While no one was seriously injured in this pileup, road accident deaths are twice as high in South Africa as the global average. The country has about 14,000 road fatalities a year, for a population of 49 million.

More from GlobalPost: South Africa: 19 killed in minibus taxi crash

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