Van Dalen Road North speeding goes wrong
“We looked through the window first and couldn’t see anything, but when we stepped outside we saw our collapsed wall and a man in the car that looked unconscious,” she recalled.
Ruimsig Manor has become the latest residential complex to incur costs from damages caused by reckless driving on the problematic Van Dalen Road North in Ruimsig.
This after yet another speedster lost control of their vehicle and plunged into the outside security wall of the residential unit about 5am on Monday, 24 February.
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The owner of the unit, Erica du Plessis, said it was thanks to her neighbour who informed her about the crash. “At 5.10am my neighbour phoned me informing that a car has gone into the back of my yard. I then asked her which wall because I am confused, and she provided clarity,” she said.
“We looked through the window first and couldn’t see anything, but when we stepped outside we saw our collapsed wall and a man in the car that looked unconscious,” she recalled.
Erica didn’t waste time to rebuild the wall as she feared a security risk. “My property had been exposed to the public which wasn’t safe,” she said.
This infamous road has been top concern by residents due to accidents which are caused by reckless driving. The speed limit of the road is 60km/h; however, Erica claimed that some cars do at least 160km/h, especially on Friday evenings.
She intensified the call for traffic-calming measures to be put in place on the road. “We’ve had no luck with the speed humps on this road because there’s always an excuse about the road structure,” she criticised, suggesting that speed humps would be useful considering that the road has a school on it.
Ward 97 councillor Leah Knott weighed in on the matter. “The only request I’ve received was for traffic lights between Van Dalen Road North and Peter Road and an engineering study was conducted thereof. However, I’ve never received an application for speed humps on the said road,” she explained.
Without shying away from the problem, Leah told the Northsider that speed humps weren’t going to address the problem which she believes stems from driver behaviour. “Pretty much in every part of the city we have this problem, even where there’s speed humps, people still speed between them,” she explained, also further citing that speed humps causes a lot of carbon dioxide and reduces the time for emergency services rushing to and from scenes.
This is a developing story.
