Frustration brews over ‘fast and furious’ speedsters
Accidents on the road are such a common occurrence that the municipality has opted to remove two street lamps that were constantly being knocked over.
GLENASHLEY residents are fed-up with the reckless speeding they have been witnessing along Newport Avenue. The latest incident took place no more than three days ago, where a motorist reportedly crashed into a tree near Lindsey Drive.
Accidents on the road are such a common occurrence that the municipality has opted to remove two street lamps that were constantly being knocked over.
One resident, Dallas Sutton, reached breaking point last year when he was seriously injured in an accident along the busy residential road. Since then he and fellow resident, Mariet Holland, have been campaigning to have speed calming measures erected along the road.
However, the duo told the Northglen News yesterday that despite numerous complaints and photographic evidence being reported, authorities have taken a snails pace response to the issue.
“I feel like they are waiting for someone to die. Things will only be done after there has been a serious accident,” said Holland.
According to Sutton many residents are so fearful and reluctant to use the road that they take massive detours to avoid Newport Avenue. He said it was particularly dangerous to enter the road from Lindsey Drive, as the blind corner made it virtually impossible to see other motorists speeding down from La Lucia.
“There are no signs along the road to indicate the speed limit. We have asked for signage, speed bumps, a traffic circle and even a simple warning sign to warn motorists that it is a high accident risk zone. But we have had very little feedback,” he said.
Holland said they were told that a traffic circle were ‘in the cards’, but this has not materialized.
Ward councillor, Shaun Ryley said, “This really is a very problematic road which needs serious intervention. It is a pity that the current policy is seemingly inefficient in its ability to deal with this. The policy claims that it should not be seen as the solution to bad driver behaviour, but rather to improve road safety. It goes on to list one of its objectives as being to “protect residential areas from the effects of undesirable traffic intrusion.” The policy lists its aims as follows: reduction of accidents. reduction in the severity of accidents, reduction in accident probability, and reduction of vehicle speeds. If this is indeed the case then there are flaws in the policy.”
Ryley added that he had submitted a requested for speed trapping to be done on this road, as well as a request for speed limit signs to be erected, but this was rejected because officials claimed that the speed limit on the roads is 60km/h – as governed by the general speed limit for urban areas. Therefore, the introduction of speed limit signs could not be supported here as it would obligate them to erect similar signs on all roads across the entire city.
