THE death of one of their own led to bikers taking a stand against poor road maintenance, people disobeying the rules of the road – all those things which lead to the tragic loss of life.
With their slogan, ‘Enough is Enough’, Bikers Against Road Carnage (BARC) was established after the sad death of a dear and special friend, TC Frankenberg.
He died after a motorcycle accident was brought about by poor road maintenance. Jan Liebenberg, founder of Firefighters South Africa Motorcycle Association, made a promise to TC’s dad, Collin Frankenberg, stating, “We will never forget TC. Firefighters SA will make sure the incident is investigated and brought under the correct people’s attention.”
With assistance from Simon Lapping, ward councillor for Ward 17, the bikers and the councillor managed to hand over a memorandum requesting answers from mayor Mzwandile Masina.
On January 31 they got the news the council accepted the recommendations to investigate the contractor involved with the roadworks where TC’s accident occurred.
And so, for BARC, the work to raise awareness and to take stand continues.
Marking road hazards
Albertonians may have seen potholes with bright spray-painted circles around them – this is the work of BARC.
Internationally bikers are spraying potholes and open manholes with bright paint – marking them with words like ‘I kill’ or ‘fix me’ to make others aware.
BARC is all about awareness, hence the reason for the spray on the roads, pointing out potholes, manhole covers without lids and poor road maintenance.
Willie Labuschagne and his wife Maxie Kruger are heading up the Alberton side of these markings.
“We are doing this for the brothers and sisters who lost their lives due to negligence,” they said.
Join the movement
Jan introduced the BARC Campaign on Facebook on February 6. Within a week over 100 000 people were reached. Soon after, people enquired about the spray and requested T-shirts in order to make more people aware of the campaign.
“We encourage everyone to support the BARC group on Facebook, taking pictures, posting it on the group with pin locations in order for us to build up statistics to put pressure on the councils to repair and maintain all roads accordingly,” said Jan.
Willie and Maxie are also requesting residents to assist by donating spray paint which will enable them to keep on marking potholes and other hazards on the roads.
“We also urge people to let us know of any such hazards – we will gladly hit the road to go out and mark it,” he said. Residents can contact Willie on 074 667 0494.
For free daily local news in the south, visit our sister newspapers Alberton Record, Comaro Chronicle, Southern Courier and Get it Joburg South Magazine.
Remember to visit our Facebook, Twitter and Instagram pages. You can also email our offices on cvdwalt@caxton.co.za, juliem@caxton.co.za or luckyt@caxton.co.za
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