Children in danger

Teachers and parents at Tiddlywinks Playschool have considered taking matters into their own hands to reduce the speeding on St John Road in Hurlyvale.

This follows numerous attempts from parents, teachers and ward councillors to have traffic calming measures implemented outside the school.

In March 2011 an application was forwarded to the Ekurhuleni Metropolitan Municipality (EMM) for speed humps to be installed.

By the end of the year, a response was received stating that traffic calming measures were not warranted along this stretch of road.

In 2010, a vehicle believed to have been speeding, crashed through the boundary fence of the school.

“Thankfully this happened on a Saturday and there were no parents or children at the school,” said Tiddlywinks principal, Ms Demi du Ruyter.

She believes that should the crash have occurred while parents were dropping their children off, or fetching their children from the school in either the morning or the afternoon, there would have been a fatality.

“The school is 10 years old and I have owned it for the last five years. We started off with only 22 children but have grown to over 60 children,” said Ms Du Ruyter.

The increase in schools pupils, coupled with the increase in traffic through Edenvale in the mornings and afternoons, has resulted in the school re-looking at its application for traffic calming measures.

In March 2012, a cyclist was knocked down outside the school and paramedics from Emer-G-Med attended to the scene.

Advanced life support paramedic, Mr Derek Ramsay, whose child also attends the school, said he would not like to receive a call to attend to a parent or a child injured at the school as a result of a speeding motorist.

“How would a motorist feel knowing that they killed a parent or a child because they were speeding on St John Road?” he asked.

Parent, Mrs Natalia Hann, said often when parents slow down to turn into the property other motorists come flying around the corner.

“Parents are putting children in their cars and there are children walking in the parking area. As a parent, I want to feel safe when I drop and fetch my child from the school,” said Mrs Hann.

“We are all concerned about the safety of our children,” she added.

Ms Du Ruyter told the NEWS that any form of traffic calming measures would be appreciated.

“A permanent speed camera, rumble strips or even additional signage would be great. Anything as long as we can get the cars to slow down,” she said.

In an attempt to warn motorists that they are approaching a school, one of the parents at the school had several signs printed.

These are placed along St John’s Road each morning and afternoon.

When the NEWS visited the school on Monday morning last week, it was estimated that in a period of 30 minutes more than 70 percent of the motorists passing the school were travelling at over 60 kilometres an hour.

In response to the NEWS’ enquiry sent to the EMM in January 2012, the then spokesperson for the municipality Mr Justice Mohale, said all traffic calming measures were evaluated in accordance with the Application of the Functional Classification, the National Guidelines for Traffic Calming and sound judgement.

The enquiry focused on the reason the municipality denied the request for traffic calming measures to be implemented outside the school.

Mr Mohale added that all roads categorised in classes one to three do not permit the implementation of any form of vertical traffic calming measures.

“In terms of the department’s Strategic Road Network, St John’s Road is classified as a class three arterial road. Traffic calming on these roads are not permitted and the mobility function of these roads should be protected,” he said.

At the time, due to the sensitivity of the matter, the municipality applied for the road to be scored and the warrants weighed.

“The request scored 34 points, which in turn implies that traffic calming measures are not warranted along St John Road,” said Mr Mohale.

He also said that although it would be highly unlikely that traffic calming measures would be implemented, as a mitigating measure the municipality would look at other alternatives to enhance road safety such as road markings and visible signage.

In February of the same year, the NEWS questioned why, if St John’s Road was classified at a class three road, the municipality had installed speed humps on the opposite side of the road outside Candyland Nursery School.

Mr Mohale responded that following a detailed investigation by the municipality, the intersection of St John’s Road, Hurlyvale Avenue and St Andrew’s Road warranted “some form of intersection control” due to the substandard geometric layout thereof.

The speed bumps were introduced as a temporary measure until the municipality would geometrically improve the intersection.

“The existing speed humps along St Johan’s Road therefore serves a function of a partial intersection and not a traffic calming measure,” said Mr Mohale.

In response, the ward 18 councillor for Edenvale, Clr Heather Hart, questioned why temporary speed bumps could not be installed at the intersection of St John’s Road and St James Road.

In reply, Clr Hart was again told that St John’s Road did not warrant traffic calming measures.

In both case the municipality stated that although residents were willing to fund the installation of the speed bumps themselves, it did not automatically qualify them to do the installations.