Lack of pedestrian crossing shocks resident

A REGULAR walker in and around the Kloof area has appealed for more speed humps to allow pedestrians to cross the road without fear of being hit by a vehicle.

Wendy Erasmus, a Kloof resident said she was shocked and disappointed at the complete and utter lack of safety measures on the three marked pedestrian crossings in Kloof.

She said the silly season is here and with it come pleas from the traffic police and other bodies for motorists to drive safely and perhaps reduce the horrendous number of fatal road accidents over the holiday period.

“Road safety needs to begin in our suburb where vehicle numbers have burgeoned enormously, but safety measures are archaic. I am appalled at the lack of pedestrian crossings in the area. There are zebra stripes across the road to demarcate a crossing and these are roundly ignored by most motorists. There are no flashing beacons and no humps to slow vehicles down to allow a safe crossing,” said Erasmus.

She said there is a crossing place from Stokers Arms across to Kloof Mall, but that is largely ignored by drivers and another one around the corner from the Kloof Mall so that people can cross to the library and down to the clinic, which attracts scores of people on a daily basis.

“Crossing those roads is a nerve-wracking experience. Vehicles come barrelling around the corner and roar past as you wait to seize a gap and cross, if there is a courteous driver in one lane who stops for you, chances are the vehicle in the lane next to him does not stop. There are speed humps outside all the schools in this area, which is as it should be, and they work really well to slow traffic down. There are others on Everton Road and they are so small and completely ineffective. There are three more on Station Road, Gillitts and two on Kenilworth Drive which do their job very well indeed,” she said.

“There is a need for humps to calm traffic at the Catholic Church, end of Old Main Road, at Stokers Arms and at the library/clinic end of Village Road. People have to cross all these roads to get to and from their places of employment every day. Why should they have to put their lives on the line to do this?” asked Erasmus.

Ward 10 councillor, Rick Crouch said according to ETA they have indicated to him that they do not officially recognise pedestrian crossings as motorists do not pay attention to them.

“This explanation was received after I asked for flashing lights and speed humps at the pedestrian crossing outside Stokers in Kloof. There have been a number of people knocked down at that particular pedestrian crossing and even more near misses, me included.”

Crouch said when he first requested the flashing lights and speed humps at that pedestrian crossing, the response from ETA was to just completely remove the pedestrian crossing.

“After weeks of going back and forth, they finally reinstated it. They said they will not put flashing lights because it will give pedestrians a false sense of security. They went on to say that as a department they do not ‘officially’ recognise pedestrian crossings because drivers just don’t stop and it is up to Metro Police to enforce the laws. What we think of as a pedestrian crossing ‘is simply a guide for pedestrians’ they told me,” said Crouch.