Runner abused for warning motorists

ETIENNE writes:

I am a runner and I run in the streets of Kempton Park. I am amazed at how few people actually stop at stop streets.

There has been many occasions where I ended up with a close shave because of people speeding or not stopping at stop streets, sometimes they even speed over stop streets.

One such stop is the stop on Anemoon Street at the BMX course. Yes, that stop is a pain but we cannot take the law into our own hands and decide when to stop or not. What happens when a child from the BMX course crosses the street and someone is driving too fast to stop? A child dies…then it’s a big story in the news.

Often I remind people to stop at the stop streets when I run but I am then verbally abused and at times threatened to be assaulted. Some people even run after me to assault me. All of that just because I remind them to stop.

What is interesting to me is the same people who fail to stop are most likely the people who complain the most about the government and how corrupt they are, how the president breaks the laws and they seek the harshest penalty for him.

I don’t condone what the president does or did, it starts with us. We need to abide by the laws, how inconvenient or petty we think it might be. When we do that we will care more for our neighbour and we would be less prone to jump out of our cars wanting to assault another driver or pedestrian.

I wish the traffic police would patrol these areas and enforce stopping at stop streets and curb speeding in residential areas.