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| Johan Buys (55) managed to pull over his truck and engage the brake while suffering a fatal heart attack. He was found dead with the engine still running. Mooi paaie daar bo! |
The SA Long-distance Truckers (Salt) said a driver who manage to steer his truck into the emergency lane while suffering a fatal heart attack is a hero.
The driver, Johan Buys (55), was found slumped over the steering wheel with the engine still idling, his rig stopped neatly on the shoulder of the N4 offramp to Bronkhorspruit.
“My dad promised my mom ... that anytime, it doesn’t matter where it is, when he’s not feeling well, he needs to pull over,” his daughter Zena told News24 yesterday.
“And that is what he did.”
She said she was not surprised to hear that he had thought of the welfare of others. “That is my dad.”
He had spoken to his wife Hannetjie on November 8, and later someone told the family they had seen his truck parked on the side of the road.
Zena said that the outpouring of appreciation for his actions would have surprised her father.
“He was always saying get off Facebook. Now he is all over Facebook,” she said.
She paid tribute to her father as a “fun person” with a passion for cooking and trucking.Many of her childhood memories are filled with driving in the cab with him, listening to the Elvis Presley songs he loved.
When he had free time he loved to cook -- especially curries and potjies.
And then there were the days when he would simply say to her:
“Come meisiekind. Let’s go and braai.”
