Two North Durban residents lucky to be alive

DURBAN North ward councillor Dean Macpherson has slammed the South African National Roads Agency Ltd (Sanral) for failing to enclose Blackburn Bridge that runs over the busy N2 highway between Gateway and Sibaya. The agency made the promise more than one year ago to enclose the bridge that has been the scene of numerous incidents in which pedestrians hurl rocks at cars passing under it. In 2012 Vishani Rabindranath suffered serious facial injury when a brick, thrown at the car she was in, hit her.

But two north Durban residents and the latest victims of the Blackburn Bridge attacks this week said they were lucky to be alive after the rocks that were flung onto the car they were travelling in landed on its underbelly. Glen Ashton of Durban North and Sean Tennent who lives in Mount Edgecombe were heading toward Westbrooke Beach for a fishing trip when a rock fell in front of his vehicle. He said it hit the bottom of his Golf’s bumper.

Lucky to escape serious injury

“It was close to 4am and it was still dark at that stage. Sean, who was in the passenger seat, spotted a few guys up on the bridge and it wasn’t until the first rock hit the bottom of the car that I realised what was going on,” he explained.

“We were really lucky to escape serious injury, if I was driving any faster and those rocks could’ve come through our windscreen. I had a chance to look around and saw bits of rocks littered across the other lanes of the freeway, so these guys had obviously been throwing them at other vehicles.” Ashton added he wouldn’t be driving the same route again.

“We were both shaken up about the incident. I truly hope action is taken before someone loses their life.”

Stone throwing not an engineering problem to solve

When Northglen News last spoke to Sanral officials last year and enquired about why the bridge had not been enclosed the answer was that there had been no delay in the procurement process and that the move to enclose the dangerous bridge was on track. The tender to carry out the work, according to Manuel de Sousa, operations and maintenance manager for Saral however was only accepted late last year. He said construction of the bridge enclosure commenced on 4 November.

“The steel mesh screen panels are manufactured and galvanised off-site. Actual installation of the screen panels is to start on Wednesday, 29 January, and will take four weeks to be completed. The Blackburn Pedestrian Bridge and walkway project is one that provides an appropriate engineering solution for a safe pedestrian crossing of this heavily trafficked section of national road (a dual carriageway freeway with approximately 19 000 vehicles/day/carriageway). As many as 500 pedestrians use this bridge daily. It’s not clear on which aspect the councillor lays the blame on Sanral,” he said.

Councillor lays the blame on Sanral

Macpherson, however, said the steel enclosure would be the first step to deter rock throwers.

“Drastic measures must be taken to stop these types of incidents which has have left a number of people seriously injured over the last three years. Metro Police, SAPS and Sanral have been reluctant to do anything to stem the tide of attacks which should they continue, will have disastrous consequences for tourism in Durban.

“There seems to be little or no attempt by Metro Police or SAPS to root out those criminals responsible for these incidents. Equally to blame is Sanral who seem to have reneged on their promise to enclose the bridge in August 2013. To date, the bridge is still unclosed,” he said.

Macpherson added the call by Mayor James Nxumalo last year for ‘people to stop throwing rocks, stones and any other objects at passing motorists.’ “His call rings hollow when motorists continue to be attacked. We need strong action and results before a another attack takes place,” he said.