No speed humps for Chartwell
There is still no resolution for Chartwell Drive residents over the building of speed humps on the road.
CHARTWELL Drive residents feel their safety concerns are being swept aside as their call for speed calming measures continue. Local resident, Spike Farrell, who has led the call for speed humps, said he feels it’s only a matter of time before a fatality occurs.
“Stanley Grace Crescent, Ridge Road, Marine Drive all have speed humps in place. This, naturally, causes a large amount of traffic to be channeled down Chartwell Drive. All we are asking for is two speed humps, strategically placed. We have had a telephone pole knocked down, and a woman exiting our driveway, was struck by a speeding car.
“Doesn’t the Metro police and eThekwini municipality have a responsibility to look after its ratepayers? Ashley Dove of the Metro Police organised speed trapping on Chartwell Drive recently, and in a half hour trapped 11 motorists exceeding the speed limit,” he said.
Another resident, Dave Hathrill, has started a petition and hopes the municipality will take resident’s concerns seriously.
“The eThekwini transport department have rejected the request for speed calming measures out-of-hand without doing any investigation,” Hathrill said.
In 2006, eThekwini Transport Authority launched its traffic calming policy, where excessive speed could lead to a potential hazard. However, measures could only be taken if there was a high record of accidents.
Eugene Naidoo, manager of traffic engineering at eThekwini Traffic Authority said an assessment was undertaken in terms of the Traffic Calming Policy and it was found not to meet the requirement for implementation.
“There are many other roads in the city that have a higher priority and this road cannot be considered at this stage. Only one accident was reported on this road in 2012 and priority is given to roads that have a higher accident record. It would be irresponsible to give preference to roads that have a low accident record,” he said.
Naidoo added, if speeding is a problem then it must be addressed by enforcement. “On this type of road the policy does make provision for residents to fund the construction of speed humps, subject to conditions as laid out in the policy, and the road would require more than two speed humps.”
