Lawlessness at intersection irks residents
Motorists with no regard for traffic regulations at the St John Road intersection with Van Riebeeck Avenue continue to cause havoc while council decides on a way forward.
In the June 12 edition of the NEWS, it was reported that the intersection has become a nightmare for anyone wanting to leave or enter Edenvale.
Regular accidents at the intersection and grid-locked traffic on narrow side roads make for dangerous traffic infringements.
To add to the dangers, drivers of heavy duty trucks, who make use of St Anne and St Margaret roads, cannot manoeuvre tight turns and simply drive over pavements.
Recently, one truck driver completely ignored the three-tonne restriction on St Margaret Road from Minuach Road.
“The man drove up St Margaret Road only to find a dead end. This despite the long existing dead end sign at the entrance to St Margaret Road from Hurlyvale Avenue,” said ward 18 councillor, Clr Heather Hart.
By the time the driver of the truck realised he could not reverse or U-turn, the large vehicle at the dead end with St Dominic Road. His only option was to drive over the community garden at the intersection, straight into on-coming traffic.
“The Ekurhuleni Roads Department has since erected new barriers, as well as signage, to prevent this from happening in the future,” Clr Hart said.
Damage to council infrastructure at the intersection is increasing on a daily basis.
While the Ekurhuleni Metropolitan Police Department (EMPD) holds regular operations at the intersection, it does not deter unruly motorists when officers are not present.
Spokesperson for the Ekurhuleni Metropolitan Municipality (EMM), Mr Samuel Modiba said a number of localised studies had already been conducted at the intersection.
“These gave rise to the need for a wider network study for road users, which is currently in progress and under consideration,” said Mr Modiba.
He added that, for the moment, solutions will have limited benefits while a network solution will have far-reaching effects.
“A network solution might be beneficial to a wider range of road users but may inconvenience residents,” he said, referring to the possible closure of St Anne Road.
“The needs of the local community and the needs of the wider road network users are, at present, in conflict with each other. Options to merge the needs of the local community and the needs of the wider network road user is therefore not that easily available or definable, but is currently been investigated,” he said.
According to Mr Modiba, the only interim solution is increased law enforcement.
