Bid to improve road safety outside Dundee Pre-Primary
Fears are that there will have to be an accident before authorities step in and take action.
There are growing concerns over the safety of the toddlers at Dundee Pre Primary School as motorists blatantly ignore a four-way stop in front of the school on Gladstone Street.
Brenda Viljoen, principal of Dundee Pre-Primary, said she fears the worst for the children in the school’s care – the youngest ones being three and four years old – with some parents and school transport vehicles also ignoring road safety rules by parking ‘willy-nilly’ when picking up and dropping off the children in the mornings and afternoons.
“The children are sometimes dropped off on the other side of the road and have to cross the road. Parents or their scholar transport service should accompany them to the school but this does not always happen,” Mrs Viljoen said.
“With so many motorists just driving through the four-way stop – on the corner of Gladstone and Grey Streets – this makes the situation incredibly dangerous for our little ones.”
She explained that some vehicles parked in the face of oncoming traffic in their rush to pick up or drop off children. “This further endangers the lives of the kids.”
Mrs Viljoen said the school had contacted the traffic department several times in a bid to deploy officers in the mornings and in the afternoons to enforce traffic regulations.
The Courier contacted Cllr Saleem Abdool who serves on the portfolio committee that covers traffic matters. He in turn contacted Mr Xulu of community services who promised to attend to the matter at Dundee Pre Primary.
Last Friday, Dundee Pre Primary staff and the children stood at the four-way stop to highlight the need for more road safety enforcement.
In a separate exercise, the Courier observed the four-way stop for 25 minutes last Thursday from around midday when the school closes. Out of the 48 vehicles that arrived at the four-way stop, only two came to a complete halt.
The rest, including government vehicles and a police van, merely slowed down and then sped off.
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