EDITORIAL: City must act against four-legged threat on N2

IT is truly diabolical to think that in the year 2014, the lives of motorists along one of the city’s busiest highways are endangered by a four-legged, bovine threat.
Stray cows have indeed caused havoc (see story on page 3), and much damage to cars along the Toti stretch of the N2 this past week.
While this problem has for years plagued the mid-South Coast, with its more rural and rustic environment, roughly the end of the sugarcane stretch at Winklespruit heralds one’s arrival in the city of Durban.
As such, one would imagine that there would – and should – be little appetite for the thought of driving among cattle as one travels along the busy N2.
Traffic authorities such as the Road Traffic Inspectorate (RTI) and Metro Police pay too little attention to this life-threatening occurrence, and it is only a matter of time until a motorist is killed through what appears to be nothing more than a careless attitude by the livestock owners.
It is not good enough that the authorities claim they are powerless to act because there is no animal impound facility in the vicinity.
Fine the livestock owners, impound the animals and see how quickly the situation is rectified.
It’s quite simple, but it would require bylaws being enforced – something that is severely lacking.