UMHLANGA ward councillor, Nicole Bollman, has expressed her concern over the number of accidents and deaths on the M4 Ruth First Highway, particularly between the Swapo Road and uMhlanga on and off-ramps.
Since January, four people have been killed on the M4, with two fatalities taking place in the last week alone, while more than 10 people have been injured in several accidents.
In the most serious accident more than a week ago four people were injured in an accident involving four vehicles just before the M41 off-ramp. One of those injured later died of his injuries.
According to Bollman, there are a number of factors leading to the accidents on the M4, one of which is driver behaviour.
“From what I’ve seen personally driving this stretch of road is there are a variety of causes for the accidents, one of which is motorists driving recklessly. Driver behaviour needs to change, not just on the M4, but every road in the greater Durban area. We also have drivers not obeying speed limits and overtaking over solid white lines when the M4 narrows to one lane which is irresponsible. As a victim of a car accident, I know how quick it can happen, I barely had time to blink before someone crashed into me.
“There are other options I believe the City could look at, obviously police enforcement is one of them. My recommendation to the City would be to install average speed cameras on the road. The system works well on the M13, where the camera’s monitor your average speed between two points.
“Drivers exceeding that get fined and it prevents people from speeding. That would be a better solution than static cameras as motorists slow down before the camera and then speed when they past it. I also feel that Metro Police and Durban North SAPS need to hold more roadblocks on the M4 rather than the M41,” he said.
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