‘Tea cup’ speed bumps causing dissent

THE HUGE tea cup on the side of the Vryheid/Dundee road has become a landmark. It advertises the Altyd Somer roadside shop which is located about 10km out of Vryheid. Here, there are old railway houses and a school on the other side of road, and a staggered junction – one road going south to the school and the other going north to Scheepernek farms.

The school creates an abnormal amount of pedestrian traffic. During school terms, there are always children milling around the roadside. A few of them have become victims of accidents, killed by passing traffic. Because of this, the Roads Department erected speed bumps here to slow traffic down, and the 80km/h speed restriction was extended.

Did it slow the traffic down?

Not really. We saw coal trucks completely ignoring the humps, seeming not even attempting to slow down. In time the humps had been flattened by the traffic volumes, and most vehicles did not seem to approach the humps with caution. We heard too, that the coal trucks used to blow their horns to warn nearby pedestrians of their approach at speed. No, the humps were useless.

Last week the Department erected new humps, wider ones, which we have heard were the cause of a number of vehicles loosing their exhausts. But when the site was visited on Monday this week it was clear that they are now having the desired effect. Trucks, especially coal trucks, are slowing right down to the point of engaging first gear. And the speed limit at this point has been reduced to 60km/h.

It is causing periodic traffic build-ups behind these now-crawling trucks, and on Monday two cars were noticed which were avoiding the humps by driving on the dirt roadside. But they are going slower. The children are safer.