The families of six youngsters killed on Edenvale roads in two years are still waiting for council to fulfil its promises to implement traffic calming measures.
On April 5, 2013, Wesley Simpson, Tamlyn Lewis, Slade Mathews and Angelia Maree were killed at the intersection of Terrace and Columbus roads.
In August of the same year, Skye Wilsnagh was killed while trying to cross Laurie Road.
Last month, Laurie Road claimed another victim when Rickey Jones was killed in what was described as a freak accident.
In September 2012, a 46-year-old motorist was killed on Laurie Road when the vehicle he was travelling in collided with an electricity pylon.
The force of the impact uprooted to pylon.
Following the crash on Terrace Road, the Ekurhuleni Metropolitan Municipality’s (EMM) executive mayor, Clr Mondli Gungubele, said the municipality must take steps to ensure the road is made safer.
Promises were made that cameras would be installed in an attempt to slow motorists down.
In addition, council would also look at installing another set of traffic lights on the road.
On Laurie Road, council promised that a traffic circle would be installed at the intersection of Laurie and Aitken roads.
Speaking to the NEWS following the death of her daughter, Mrs Miranda Wilsnagh said she hoped some good would come of her daughter’s death and that the road would be made safer.
Construction on the circle was set to begin by the end of 2013 and was expected to be completed by the beginning of 2014.
In June 2014, merely a week after work on the circle had commenced, the construction was halted when contractors encountered a problem with a water line.
Following an outcry from residents, the construction was started and then abandoned again in September, when the budget set aside for the project fell short of what was needed.
The road was left to crumble.
According to reports, Rickey Jones was cycling along the road when he hit one of the crumbling curbs.
He fell into the road and a passing truck drove over him.
Mr Garth Coetzer, the trustee chairperson for Greenstone View, said another notoriously dangerous intersection on Laurie Road was at Aileen Road.
“Requests to the authorities for traffic control measures along Laurie Road has moved from one meeting to another, one email to the next, one official department to the following one,” said Mr Coetzer.
“When the issue of the circle was raised, I expressed my concern that, important as it was, the circle would make no positive contribution to the dangerous intersection some 850 meters further on at the Aileen and Laurie road intersection,” he said.
Mr Coetzer believes the circle would merely create a pause, aim and fire situation for “the mad people in their wheeled missiles who would exit the circle and again take off pedal to the metal straight down Laurie Road and through the intersection in question”.
The EMM has since installed a stop street at the intersection in Laurie and Aitken roads, as well as at the intersection of Betchana and Engwena roads.
While the newly installed stop streets have come as a relief to residents who travel the road daily, many motorists have complained that it adversely affects peak traffic.
