VIDEO: Child safety on roads – a cause for concern
Traffic Police chief on road safety for kids.
The R28 has proven to be a dangerous road following motor vehicle collisions and pedestrian deaths. The Randfontein Traffic Police (RTP) have raised concerns about the road.
Kenny Mampondo, RTP chief, took the Herald to see what his latest concern about the road is – child pedestrians.
Every morning, RTP officers stand at various locations on the R28 to escort pedestrians across the busy road but some still cross where there is no officer to help them.
Mampondo watched as children as young as seven cross the road either by themselves or in groups with older children leading the way. He said he did not understand why these children do not cross where the officers are.
They are so small, there would be nothing left of them should a car hit them,” he explained.
This is not the only concern Mampondo has about these child pedestrians – when they cross the road both with or without an officer, they take dangerous shortcuts.
Two of these shortcuts are off the south-bound lane on the R28 at Mohlakeng Extension 11. One of the shortcuts is a residential property without a boundary wall at the back, which children take after crossing a ditch.
It’s just not safe. They have to go through a ditch to get to the other side. When it rains the ditch is filled with water. How does a child cross something like that safely?”
This is beside the fact that after crossing the ditch the children enter private property where all sorts of criminals could prey on them. The other shortcut is across a high wall; a route children and adults use. It is believed the house on the property is vacant.
“Firstly, these children could get hurt climbing the wall and secondly, this property is vacant. Who knows what kind of people hang out there?”
Mampondo is urging parents in Mohlakeng Extension 11 to explain to their children the dangers of these shortcuts and crossing roads alone.
The following are some of this year’s pedestrian tragedies:
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Also read:
Child airlifted after being hit by car
Child, 9, knocked over by vehicle
Pedestrian accident leaves boy, 9, critical
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