DA calls for Field’s Hill heavies ban
After a truck crash left one dead last Friday, the DA has called on KZN's MEC for Transport, Mxolisi Kaunda, to restrict heavies on Field's Hill.
IN a bid to propose solutions to ongoing accidents involving heavy vehicles on Field’s Hill, the Democratic Alliance (DA) has requested an urgent meeting with the KZN Transport MEC, Mxolisi Kaunda.
The move follows yet another crash involving two trucks on Friday that claimed the life of one person.
“The incident took place at the same intersection, at the base of Field’s Hill, where 24 people died in 2013 after a runaway truck ploughed into them,” said DA KZN spokesperson on transport, Sharon Hoosen.
The DA first raised its concern over Field’s Hill in 2005 at an eThekwini council and provincial legislature level.
ALSO READ: One person dies on Field’s Hill off-ramp truck crash
In 2008, the DA tabled a motion in the KZN legislature for a complete ban on all heavy vehicles on Field’s Hill.
“Proposed alternatives to Field’s Hill, at the time, include the building of a toll road near Ashburton. Heavy vehicles would pay their toll fees further up the N3 and wouldn’t divert down Field’s Hill to save on toll road fees. Still, nothing happened,” said Hoosen.
Following 2013’s horror crash, the former MEC, Willies Mchunu, set up truck stops during peak hours.
“And it is here that the problem lies. There is no point in imposing such restrictions when they are not properly enforced and this is precisely what the DA will raise with the MEC during our forthcoming meeting. The MEC has the power to restrict the use of specific roads to certain vehicles only,” said Hoosen.
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