More people die on Field’s Hill

TWO dead, 23 injured. Similar headlines, with monotonous regularity, have become part of our lives. We know that it is simply a matter of time before more people are killed on our infamous hill. Yet again, Field’s Hill has claimed the lives of people making their way home after work. The crash on Field’s Hill on Monday evening involved two taxis and, yet again, a truck.

It appears that the combined voices of an outraged community are being ignored by the Department of Transport and the banning of heavies on Field’s Hill is a pipe dream.

How many more people are to die? It is true that the traffic department has stepped up policing on the hill. It is true that many trucks in various states of dubious roadworthiness have been pulled off the road in recent days. The question though is how long will this last? Once the public outcry dies down and the Field’s Hill carnage of early September is quietly forgotten, it will be business as usual for the truck cowboys on our roads.The only real solution is to force trucks to use the toll road.

One of the reasons for the department dragging its feet on the banning of heavies on Field’s Hill is economical, said Willies Mchunu MEC of Transport, who is the man who holds the lives of Field’s Hill users in his hands. His reasoning is that commerce in Hillcrest, Kloof and Pinetown would suffer if the trucks were banned from the route.

This reasoning is not logical. Heavy trucks do not deliver merchandise along the route. Goods are taken to a central depot from where they are distributed using smaller vehicles. Heavies do not pull in to the Spar in Kloof and offload lettuce. And, how many heavies do we see parked at the mall while the driver shops? Exactly. None.

The toll road was built specifically to lighten the load on Field’s Hill. The gradient is more gentle and the road straighter.

The engineers and the municipalities which designed the toll road would surely have taken the economical consequences into consideration. The industrial area of Westmead is perfectly situated to be accessed from the toll road and the entry into Pinetown itself is more than suitable. In fact it is probably safer to use this entry that that at the bottom of Field’s Hill.

Perhaps our provincial government should look carefully at the documentation on the toll road’s positioning and its objectives. A ban on Field’s Hill would not bring economic hardship to the residents and businesses of this area. What it will do is allay the fear that commuters experience every day as they use a road which is associated with carnage and maiming. Many commuters must question everyday whether they will make it home alive that evening.

The people who died on the hill on Monday evening wanted nothing more than to reach home. Two never will. Many others will lose their livelihoods because of their injuries. Some will be disabled for life. Children will be deprived of a parent. Parents will mourn their children. Families will be torn apart.

These are the real consequences of the heavies on Field’s Hill.