Traffic Department dispatches officers following road safety fears at Dundee Pre Primary
Plans are also afoot to repaint the faded road lines at the intersection the state of which many motorists have used as an excuse for ‘mistakenly breaking the law’.
Six weeks after the Courier highlighted growing concerns over road safety outside Dundee Pre Primary School on Gladstone Street, the traffic department has responded by cracking down on offenders.
Brenda Viljoen, principal of Dundee Pre Primary, had told the Courier that she feared for the safety of the toddlers who are dropped off in the mornings and collected at the school.
“Parents and school transport vehicles blatantly ignore the rules of the road by not stopping at the four-way stop, parking willy-nilly and allowing their children to cross the road unaided. Hence our fears that a child could easily be hit by a car,” she said.
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.”
Following the front page story highlighting the issue in the Courier, traffic chief Alfred Nsibande reacted swiftly and went down to the school himself to monitor the traffic. Having issued several fines, Nsibande has on most mornings and afternoons dispatched traffic officers to the intersection.
Several more fines have been issued and officers Thusi and Madlala are regularly on the scene and were adamant that all motorists breaking the law would be cautioned.
Mrs Viljoen said the stern intervention has improved the situation and she believed that the little ones arriving and leaving the school will be safer knowing that the officers are on hand to look after them.
“Hopefully parents and scholar transport drivers have learned a lesson and will be more considerate.”
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.
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