Speeding motorists a concern for Hurlyvale father
“If you look at the profile of the neighbourhood, it is filled with children who walk on the pavements to get to and from school.”
Hurlyvale resident Pranessan Naidoo has raised concerns regarding the EMPD’s decision not to follow up with speed operations to curb speedsters on Horwood Road. This comes after EMPD’s Speed Complaint Section conducted an inspection of the road following concerns from the community.
Naidoo, who moved to his Hurlyvale property in August 2020, said speeding motorists who travel on the road have forced him to adapt his life. The husband and father said he has stopped or had to adapt his suburban activities, such as walking his daughter to school, exercising and spending time in his front garden because of the safety risk the speeding traffic poses.
“When we first moved into the area I thought I was the only one being affected by this matter but that not the case. It affects most of the residents on the road and is a longstanding issue.”
Naidoo said the speed at which motorist travel on the road not only poses a safety risk but it also makes it difficult for residents to leave their properties. He and other residents believe speeding motorists travel anywhere between 80 and 90km in the 60km zone. Naidoo said the community raised its concerns to Ward 18 Clr Heather Hart who assisted in escalating the matter and getting road markings repainted on the road.
“Road lines and signs telling motorists to slow down were recently repainted on the road and despite our gratitude for this being done, it’s made little improvement. “At first, I thought rumble strips were being installed on the road.”
During the EMPDS’ two-and-a-half-hour inspection of the road, violations were recorded by the inspector, including 10 motorists speeding. The maximum speed was 84km, while the average speed was 58km.
The report read as follows:
“This road is one-way with double lanes in a Western direction. It is a relatively quiet street that becomes busy during peak hours. “The speed is controlled by traffic lights, it must be mentioned that there is limited space to pull over vehicles safely, especially in the right-hand lane. “As indicated by the statistics, the average speed is under control with only the odd motorist that exceeds the speed limit. “No follow up speed operations are suggested.”
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Despite being thankful for the EMPD taking the time to do the inspection, Naidoo believes the EMPD’s decision not to follow up with speeding operations is premature.
“If you look at the profile of the neighbourhood, it is filled with children who walk on the pavements to get to and from school.”
The road has several schools on it, namely Holy Rosary School for Girls, M.W. De Wet Primary School, School of Merit and Nursery School of the Arts. Besides the schools, St Thérèse Catholic Church, multiple businesses and residential properties are located on the road.
“If 10 violations were recorded in two-and-a-half hours, what is occurring throughout the day?” asked Naidoo.
He believes if the EMPD was to conduct mobile trapping every week or second week it might change the mindsets and behaviours of speeding motorists. A request for comment was sent to the EMPD on May 13 for May 17 at 9.30am.
This is a developing story and comment will be added once received.
Although the NEWS is concerned about motorists contravening traffic violations, the newsroom frequently works to hold those in power accountable.
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Two stars will equate to all questions answered (either direct or indirect), two stars will equate to the relevancy of answers to questions posed, and the remaining star will be attributed to adherence to the deadline for comment.
As the EMPD served in this discord, the NEWS has rated this reply with 0 stars: 0 star for questions answered, 0 star for answer relevancy, 0 star for deadline met.
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