It could have been worse

‘Sensible Driver’ writes:-

THE ACCIDENT that was reported on the front page of the newspaper last week, during which the Tea Cup was demolished, fortunately happened when it did, and not when the children from the nearby school were milling about. Had it been later or earlier, the consequences would have been absolutely tragic.

The school is on the southern side of the road, on the right as you cross the railway line. There is a turnoff which leads to the school, to the old railway houses and to farmlands beyond. Traffic uses that road, and therefore has to turn off from the Vryheid/Dundee road.

Just beyond this turnoff to the left (assuming you are coming from the Vryheid side), there is a turnoff onto a dirt road on the right. In effect, this piece of road, including the Tea Cup store, is a staggered T-junction, It means that traffic in either direction has to come to a halt if a vehicle is turning, either left or right, and there is oncoming traffic. This it seems to me was the fundamental cause of the accident that demolished the Tea Cup.

Like I said, had there been children there, as there are every day at certain times during the school year, it might have been that a dozen or more children would now be dead. The Road Department put rumble strips there to slow the traffic down after accidents involving children. Big trucks ignore these strips, but they do, I believe, help make drivers aware. But what is really needed is the widening of the road at this point to allow traffic to proceed even if a vehicle is turning right or left.

My only reservation is that then the road will be doubly wide, and the children crossing the road to reach the Tea Cup store will then have perhaps four lanes of traffic to negotiate, and we all know that a child’s ability, or inability, to judge speeds and distance puts them at risk.