Candiz Dalton, a teacher and owner of Love Bugs Daycare in Summerpride, says ongoing construction and a lack of adequate signage warning motorists on Voortrekker Road has led to numerous accidents.
The latest accident occurred on Friday July 29. Dalton says excessive speeding combined with insufficient signage indicating roadworks ahead has resulted in a safety hazard.
Apparently two accidents had occured at night due to speeding motorists not being aware of the roadworks due to insufficient signage. Dalton says in one incident, a motorist had crashed into a hole that workers were digging, with the work having to be suspended for a week thereafter, leaving the road riddled with dangerous ditches.
“Last Friday, a motorist in a Toyota Corolla was driving at a speed down Voortrekker Road and collided into the back of a white unmarked bakkie that had stopped for the roadworks. Children in the Toyota Corolla were fortunate to escape injury, but were visibly shaken.”
Dalton says that during June, BCMM workers were attending to a burst pipe on the road which took five days to fix, however, when the job was completed, they failed to fill the holes dug in the road. “No-one has come back to
retar the road despite the obvious backlog of traffic it causes day and night as well as the obvious dangers to motorists ,” Dalton said.
Ward 16 councillor, Ntsika Qali, said he was not consulted when work on the road was carried out. According to him, it is a provincial road and does not fall under BCMM. “I always struggle when I find people digging tranches without my knowledge and more often I’ll find the road already tampered with. It is really a concern.”
Furthermore, Dalton said pupils attending a high school in Bramleigh Road walk along Voortrekker Road. “I keep saying a child is going to end up being knocked over and the condition of Voortrekker Road doesn’t help the situation.”
“The traffic department needs to install signs as well as speed bumps on Voortrekker Road and in Bramleigh Road to reduce the speed of the motorists and to ensure the safety of all using this busy road,” she said
As a concerned resident and mother, Dalton empathises with parents who have to rely on public transportation for their children . “Seeing three minors crying from the traumatic experience they had this morning [July 29] is just not acceptable and would not have happened had the road been fixed promptly once the water pipes had been fixed and restored.”
ROAD OBSTRUCTION: Unfinished roadworks on Voortrekker Road in Summerpride are a safety hazard, especially for speeding motorists who don’t see them in timeP i c t u re : SUPPLIED
