Over the last few years several appeals have been made to save South Africa’s rhinos that, at the rate the poor creatures are being de-horned by poachers, could very well all soon disappear from our parks and game farms.
I fully support these appeals and believe that when caught, the poachers should be made to suffer the same fate.
On a lighter note, I wish to make an appeal to motorists to save our poles. Yes, folks, our telephone poles and lamp poles are disappearing at a brisk rate.
In the early hours of Saturday morning yet another streetlight pole in West Street was taken out of action by a motorist who lost control of his vehicle when the lamp pole jumped out into the middle of the roa,d causing him to swerve and mount the pavement. Instead of staying in the middle of the road, the silly lamp pole jumped back into its position on the pavement and was struck by the out-of-control vehicle.
Now, along with scores of other lamp poles in our town that have suffered the same fate, the light doesn’t work. Like all the others, it won’t work for many years to come and most probably will never light up the darkness ever again. That’s because they don’t get replaced. Even those that fall over by themselves because of rust or strong winds are not replaced due to “lack of funds”.
In almost every street in town there are poles that have been flattened, bent and broken by motorists who swear by the ice in their “soft drinks” that the poles jumped out in front of them or that “the pole wasn’t there yesterday, officer!”
There used to be a time when any motorist who flattened a pole or signpost was made to pay municipalities for a replacement.
I am told that this is still the case. However, the pole-flattening thing happens mostly at night and the pole knockers tend to disappear almost before the pole even hits the ground. Sometimes the only evidence they leave are skid marks and pieces of plastic and glass. The glass sometimes doesn’t match any part of the car either, if you know what I mean.
Please, motorists, stop knocking our poles over! Otherwise all the street poles in our town will soon disappear. We really need those few streetlights that are still in working order.
