Hoax April Fools pothole tolling system article
Hoax stories are also often found in the press and media on this day.
Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia has this to say about April Fools’ Day, ” It is sometimes called All Fools’ Day and is an informal holiday celebrated every year on April 1. The day is not a national holiday in any country, but it is widely recognized and celebrated as a day when people play practical jokes and hoaxes on each other, called April fools. Hoax stories are also often found in the press and media on this day.”
This article is indeed a April Fools’ Day hoax.
LYDENBURG – Residents using roads in the Thaba Chweu Municipality (TCM) will soon have to fork out thousands of rand in a proposed Pothole Tolling System (PTS).
Steelburger/Lydenburg News received a highly confidential report on the new PTS system, which will be implemented in reaction to residents’ complaints about the state of local roads.
A senior official in TCM is quoted in the report as saying, “If the residents want to complain about our roads and take funny pictures with the potholes, they must pay to have it fixed”.
According to the report, residents will have to pay thousands of rand in extra toll fees in the town centres of Lydenburg, Mashishing, Graskop and Sabie, as well as potholes found on the Dullstroom, Badfontein and Ohrigstad roads.
Specialised cameras such as those used by Sanral in the Gauteng E-toll system, will be placed at every pothole to record the licence plate details of vehicles navigating their way through them.
Potholes have been categorised according to size and viciousness, with locals having to pay more toll fees if the potholes are of a larger size and more aggressive in nature.
According to report, potholes range from class 1, being the smallest, to class 5, being the largest and most aggressive.
Class 1 potholes are not larger than 30x30cm in diameter, while the class 5 potholes, referred to as the “sinkholes” in the report, can measure anything from 1,5×1,5 metres to 3×3 metre in diameter.
One of the most worrisome aspects of the system, is the cost involved.
In the new system, motorists will have to pay 50 cent for every class 1 pothole, 60 cent for class 2, 75 cent for class 3, R1.00 for class 4 and a mammoth R2.50 for every class 5 pothole.
The implications are that if a motorist living on the Badfontein road drives to Lydenburg for work and back, he would have to fork out nearly R180 per day, depending on the actual place of work.
According to the calculations, residents that use local roads regularly, likes sales staff and delivery personnel, will have to pay nearly R500 per day.
A senior TCM official confirmed that the reason for the high fees is indeed the great number of potholes.
“We can only hope that after the new system is implemented, that people will think twice about complaining.”
Those who think of avoiding the system by not paying, think again, because according to the report, toll fees will be debited directly from the motorists bank accounts.
The official said that the debit system is due to the municipality’s concerns that residents might not pay.
“We have to make sure we will get the money as many residents don’t care about paying their rates and taxes,” he said.
The report also mentioned that local officials who “knows how roads and subsidies work”, will be put in charge of the contract and that Sanral will have no say over the system at all.
No one at TCM could be reached for comment, as council is preparing for a special council sitting where, according to reports, the new PTS system will be adopted.
