IT has been nearly two and a half years since Glenashley residents, Mariet Holland and Dallas Sutton started campaigning for speed calming measures along Newport Avenue. To date there has been no action from City officials, they said.

Recently their campaign once again gained momentum when a pedestrian was hit while crossing the road at the petrol station. Last week there was also a minor accident where two vehicles collided.

What’s more Andrea van Niekerk, a manager at one of the restaurants along the road, said some motorists even perform ‘donuts’ over weekends at night.

Accidents on the road are such a common occurrence that the municipality has opted to remove two street lamps that were constantly being knocked over. Shockingly, said Holland, the pedestrian was standing on that same island when the vehicle struck him.

Despite numerous complaints, appeals and photographic evidence, authorities have taken a snails pace response to the issue, added Sutton.

Dallas spearheaded the campaign in 2014, after he had been seriously injured in an accident along the busy residential road. Soon after, he and Holland were told by the Traffic Engineering Department that Newport Avenue ‘did not meet the requirement for the implementation of speed humps’. Since then they have been pushing for other solutions, including speed traps or warning signs.

uMhlanga ward councillor Heinz de Boer has recently supported the duo’s call for traffic calming measures. De Boer proposed the construction of mini traffic circles, similar to the ones on Rinaldo Road in Glenhills.

He said these circles would not only help control the speed along Newport Avenue, but would simultaneously keep the traffic flowing.