FOLLOWING years of complaints about the safety of the four-way stop street at the intersection of Brand and Cromwell Roads, local resident, Tony Ball has received feedback from the city regarding the call for speed bumps to be erected at the intersection.
Ball has raised his concerns about the intersection repeatedly, and warned that motorists continued to ignore the stop street and were a danger to others using the intersection.
In response, the city agreed to investigate his concerns and Ball went as far as to offer to fork out the necessary funds to have the speed bumps erected. However, the response from the city made it clear that traffic calming measures are only implemented along the entire road and not at the intersection.
A municipal representative said Ball’s request was assessed in accordance with the City’s Traffic Calming Policy and that in terms of the assessment, Cromwell Road met the requirement for the implementation of speed humps and as such the request for speed bumps would be supported.
The municipality said sections with high accidents on the three roads mentioned by Ball and ward councillor, Nicole Graham, Brand Road, Albert Dlomo (Willowvale) Road and Ester Roberts (Frere) Road, did not meet the requirement for the implementation of speed bumps.
However, a discouraged Ball said if the municipality had done a proper observation of the intersection they would have seen that the problem was cars racing along Brand Road and not stopping at the Cromwell/Brand intersection.
“The problem is not cars not stopping at the Cromwell Road stop sign. I would like a considered, rational, and logical explanation why my suggestion of speed bumps at intersections are not a good idea. Firstly, all motorists are required to stop at stop streets so they would, or should, be coming to a halt thus they cannot try any claims for damages caused by speed bumps. The stop street then becomes self-policing 24 hours a day,” he said.
The municipality also said private funding of the speed humps would be an estimated cost of R20 000 per hump.
In response to the municipality’s investigation, Councillor Graham, said: “It’s frustrating that it seems the incorrect road in this intersection was monitored, which does not give us an accurate outcome. I am also concerned that the proposed cost for privately funded speed bumps is R20 000 a hump, which sounds exorbitant and limits the opportunity for private individuals to fund such interventions. The responses from eThekwini Transport Authority and Metro Police to dangerous intersections and speeding in Glenwood are unfortunately not addressing the problem.”
The municipality’s announcement that funding for speed bumps had already been committed for the 2016/2017 financial year and that the discussed speed bumps could only be prioritised for implementation in the 2017/2018 financial year, subject to funds being available, came as a shock to Ball.
“If the council spent its money on infrastructure instead of wasting it on stupid things like sponsoring Nicky Minaj concerts, the citizens of Durban would have less reason to stage service delivery protests. Perhaps it will take a fatal accident at this intersection for anything to happen,” he said.
Ball said he was also concerned about a garden planted alongside the intersection, which he said, created a traffic hazard. A meeting would be held between Ball, the municipality and the business owner regarding the issue.
