Chappies crash victim had modified car

Zara Nicholson

THE family of Edwin Scholtz who died after his car plunged down Chapman’s Peak believe he had driving failure with his Mercedes-Benz which was specially modified for his disability.

Scholtz’s son, David said the family had always been “very concerned” about their father having problems driving his car which had modified pedals and a steering aid.

Scholtz, 69 died on Sunday after his car plunged down Chapman’s Peak. He was paralysed on the entire right side of his body after a car accident in the UK in 1996.

The retired management consultant from Llandudno was still conscious when members of the public and paramedics attended to him but died later at Groote Schuur Hospital.

“There are no reports from witnesses who saw anything on the road but we think it was a driving error. He often struggled to drive that car because of his disability and we were generally concerned about that. He had the car for about eight years and always had minor accidents with it,” Scholtz said.

The previous accidents were fender-benders and scratches.

Scholtz’s Mercedes-Benz was found 10m from the shore’s edge near Noordhoek beach.

Noordhoek resident, Mandy Rapson and her friend, a former National Sea Rescue Institute (NSRI) volunteer, helped Scholtz before paramedics arrived.

They were on the beach when they saw the car coming down the mountain and ran over the rocks to help Scholtz.

“We spoke to him and tried to keep him conscious. He said he was on his way home and gave us his family’s names. When we asked what happened, he didn’t answer,” she said.

Rapson, however, said that she

was very concerned about the communication problems which occurred during the rescue.

“I made about four calls to rescue services telling them where we were and what the easiest way was to get access,” Rapson said.

“We ended up being very involved in the rescue for almost two hours. I think there were a lot of mistakes from most of the parties involved. On the road side, there was an hour of wasted time trying to decide how to get a qualified rescue person to the site and a comment by a person orchestrating the rescue saying ‘We wished we could communicate with the guys down there’. Somehow no one realised I was there with a cellphone,” Rapson said.

“The point for me bringing this all to light is to ask, is there a better way?” she said.

Police are still investigating the cause of the accident. The possibility of suicide is also being investigated but Rapson said she was confident that it was not suicide. “He was wearing a seat belt and it looked as though his car just tipped over the edge.”

Emergency Metro Services (EMS) and the NSRI were involved in the rescue. They airlifted Scholtz to the road side where he was placed in an ambulance. He was treated for shock, various lacerations and fractures to his legs and had severe pelvic injuries.

EMS spokesperson, Keri Davids said: “Access to the patient was not difficult for rescuers but removing him from the wreckage without causing more harm to his injuries was the challenging part as rescuers have to respond to calls with the possibility of managing the unknown,” Davids said.

zara.nicholson@inl.co.za