Speeding along URD continues unabated
Municipality's taffic calming policy that requires accidents to prevent accidents is 'pure lunacy' says councillor Heinz de Boer.
UMHLANGA ward councillor Heinz de Boer, has slammed the blatant disregard shown by two senior officials from the eThekwini Transport Authority who he says are scuttling attempts to amend the municipality’s traffic calming policy.
De Boer’s comments come a day after the Northglen News ran an exclusive story of a near death experience of a Durban North family who got the shock of their lives when a bakkie careened out of control and landed on top of their luxury car, meters away from where the Pillay family had gathered to pray.
Vino and Premy Pillay who live in Ryde Place said they lived in constant fear that their lives and that of their two teenage children could be in danger after witnessing drivers continually travelling at high speed along Umhlanga Rocks Drive (URD). “It gets worse on a Friday night, we can just hear the tyres screeching,” Premy Pillay said.
But De Boer says he believes the city was not taking the issue seriously after the men that sit at the head of the city’s transport authority (CEO of the eThekwini Transport Authority (ETA), Thami Mnyati and deputy head of ETA, Carlos Esteves) failed to pitch up for a meeting today to address the amendment to traffic calming measures on roads around Durban.
“There are two new bylaws being drafted, one on illegal dumping and the other on the traffic calming policy. The current bylaws on speeding are flawed and we had a number of suggestions on how it could be changed. A policy that requires accidents to prevent accidents is pure lunacy.
“However, the meeting had to be postponed because the attending representatives sent in place of the head and deputy head of the ETA had no mandates to make any decisions.
Commenting on Umhlanga Rocks Drive, De Boer said the municipality had mooted any plans for speed humps and mini traffic circles on the busy stretch of road.
“There are other options that can be looked at, especially the use of rubber speed humps. Even the use of crash barriers, it’s incredibly frustrating when we don’t get any feedback on these possibilities,” he said.
One of the biggest problems on Umhlanga Rocks Drive is the dicing along here from approximately 11.30 to 1pm. A friend owns a flat at Ilala Palms and says that they have seen a Ferrari and a Lamborgini plus a few other expensive cars racing along this road. The lamp posts are continually being knocked down. Who are the culprits? Is this occuring during the day? I very much doubt it. Maybe a speed trap during these times could be very enlightening.