‘Death intersection’ has residents concerned

The Greenstone community has once again reiterated the need for traffic calming measures to be made a priority in the area, following a series of car accidents in the past few weeks.

The most recent accident occurred in the early hours of July 26 at Stoneridge Drive near Thornvalley and Emerald Estate.

The community said, despite their pleas to get the Johannesburg Roads Agency (JRA) to install calming measures in Greenstone, the JRA has never made it a priority.

Modderfontein has been dubbed a ‘death intersection’ because of the number of accidents that occur in the area.

The Greenstone Hill community is working with Clr Bongani Nkomo to get traffic calming measures installed but they cannot do much as everything needs to be approved by the JRA.

Clr Nkomo said the only method of traffic calming measures in Greenstone is in the form of traffic lights, which aren’t working most of the time.

“For this reason, a survey was done on the Greenstone community Facebook page, which is run by Ms Kerry-Leigh Glass, a Greenstone resident. A list of problematic roads was requested. That was followed by a tour of Greenstone with a JRA representative, where we were given an opportunity to make recommendations, like speed humps or circles,” said Clr Nkomo.

The JRA was to assess the practicality and feasibility of the recommendations.

“Nothing has materialised thus far and we continue to wait with bated breathe,” he said.

Clr Nkomo said the community of Greenstone has decided to take matters into their own hands and they are raising funds in order to install the traffic calming measures themselves.

With the most recent accidents, Clr Nkomo has cited negligence and non-existent traffic calming as the main cause.

He urged residents to respect the speed regulations, as well as the presence of both pedestrians and other motorists on the road.

“Patience, as well as vigilance, should also be exercised when traffic lights are not operational. Bad driving should be reported to the authorities,” said Clr Nkomo.

The JRA spokesperson, Ms Bertha Peters-Scheepers, said the agency had undertaken a site visit with Clr Nkomo and it was clarified that the class and mobility function of the road does not warrant vertical traffic calming measures.

“The road performs main collector functions for the various high density developments in the area. Speeding on high order mobility roads such as this should rather be addressed with effective law enforcement,” said Ms Peters-Scheepers.

She said the JRA has also undertaken maintenance of all road markings and signs, including repairs to assets to ensure the road is secure and accessible for all road users.