According to Tshepo Marakalala, chairperson of the Douglasdale police youth desk, the road is exceptionally busy because it is a direct link between Cosmo City, Bloubosrand and Fourways central.
The most worrying section of the road is outside the Bridgetown complex and Little Ones creche as not only are adults crossing the road to get home, but young children must also run the gauntlet with their parents to get to and from school.
A Fourways Review journalist visited the area and witnessed cars driving extremely fast on the road. The creche had put up traffic cones to alert drivers of the zebra crossing, however motorists ignored the cones and one car even drove over a cone. Creche owner Nina Mamabolo said speeding has always been a problem, but in November last year a pupil was knocked down as he was crossing the road. Marakalala believes that the only thing that will help is to build two speed bumps, before and after the zebra crossing.
Mamabolo and Marakalala said they had alerted the Johannesburg Roads Agency to the problem in 2011 and since then had also submitted a petition, through their ward councillor, to show the need for the speed bumps. According to Matome Mafokwane, Ward 96 councillor, the community has indeed submitted a petition to him. He said he gave the petition to the agency and they are still awaiting a resolution. “My personal view is that change of behaviour of motorists will go a long way in reducing deaths on our roads and will contribute to road safety,” he said. “We drivers should take the responsibility of keeping our roads safe as it is our civil duty.”
However, Bertha Peters-Scheepers, the agency’s spokesperson, said the department had no record of ever having received a petition from Bloubosrand.
However, the agency did send their traffic engineering team to the site and they concluded that traffic calming by means of speed bumps can be warranted due to the geometric layout of the road between Vloot and Drommedaris streets.
“We propose that the request be placed on the Integrated Development Plan via the ward councillor or alternatively could be self-funded by the community through a sponsorship programme,” said Peters-Scheepers.
Have you had hair-raising experiences on Agulhas Road? Let Fourways Review know in the comments below.
