There have been a number of awful accidents on the coastal roads during the past week or so, at least three locally and one in the Scottburgh area.
Our deepest sympathies are extended to the families of the victims.
What has made some of them so difficult to deal with, and even write about, is that they have involved young children.
Somehow this just makes it so much worse.
These accidents have served as a harsh reminder as to how dangerous our roads have become. It’s really getting beyond a joke now.
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Judging by comments on our Facebook page many readers agree in varying degrees of concern, anger and rage.
It’s simply not acceptable.
There are a number of problems, including the condition of the roads, the speed at which some motorists drive, the risks they take and sometimes the cavalier and careless attitude they display.
Then there’s the perceived lack of visible policing from traffic authorities.
Throw in load-shedding which means fourway stops seemingly everywhere.
Honestly, sometimes one gets a surprise when you arrive at a functional traffic intersection.
Add in water issues and the general mood is not always a good one.
On a lighter (well, almost) note, some of the incidents have been almost comical. Serious, but hard not to see the funny side, providing everyone was okay.
This involved two different incidents where motorists ended up in large potholes/sinkholes on roads damaged by the recent floods.
The photos resembled scenes you might see in some sort of an apocalypse movie.
On a more serious note, though, the recent floods have exposed just how fragile our road system appears to be in places.
Something needs to be done to get our roads in proper shape. Will our Government spend money on performing repairs or should I rather not ask that question?
I’m hoping our traffic authorities are doing as good a job as possible, and in the past few days I have noticed a more frequent presence on the roads.
But in all honestly we need to see them everywhere all the time, or as much as possible.
There are still too many motorists driving like absolute daredevils. It really is quite astonishing.
Why overtake on a solid white line? To save how many seconds?
More police presence all round would help rectify this to some extent.
Heck, even put up a few fake, cardboard traffic officers – just the sight of an orange jacket 1km away is enough to make most motorists tap their foot on the brakes.
It’s going to take a major effort from everyone who has authority to do so, to make a difference.
We see the crashes coming through on our WhatsApp groups from various paramedics. There are far too many.
What we would do for a week or more with no such incident.
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