Chaos reigns at Stop and Go

NELSPRUIT – The highway operator, TRAC N4, announced at 18:55 on Friday that two trucks had been involved in an accident in the gorge and after this, according to eyewitnesses accounts, all hell broke loose.

Ms Anita Heyl, spokesman for TRAC N4 confirmed that impatient motorists refused to adhere to stop-and-go regulations, eventually causing a total traffic gridlock between the two points.

“People formed three lines, instead of one, and just drove without giving one another a chance,” said Col Leonord Hlathi, provincial police spokesman. This, he said, eventually led to a situation where neither those travelling to or from Nelspruit could move.

Anarchy, is how some people on the scene described it. The Nelspruit Flying Squad were called to the scene in an attempt to restore normal traffic flow. According to Capt Pieter Smith his squad had to enter the stop-and-go areas on foot to order drivers to move to the left. It took more than six hours, from 19:20 to 01:30, to restore normal traffic flow. Smith said that point operators alleged that they had been threatened and intimidated by motorists and taxi passengers.

A woman that uses the road on a daily basis told Lowvelder that the situation is generally unsafe, even during weekdays. Drivers that fall into the queue at the control points race past as soon as they see the boom lifting up ahead, thereby blocking people that have been waiting from passing through. “This happens every afternoon,” she said.

Tweets by followers of @TRACN4route on Sunday indicated that traffic officers were visible on the road on Sunday. Halthi warned motorists that they would be fined for illegal overtaking at these points. The department of community safety, security and liaison, responsible for provincial traffic law enforcement, could not be reached for comment. TRAC does not apply law enforcement and relies on local authorities for this. The roadworks in the gorge will be completed in August 2014.