Beastly humps will do more harm than good
MOTORISTS who frequently use the Hlobane road to Pongola, fear that the new “incredibly high” speed humps put up in the Shoba area will do more harm than good.
MOTORISTS who frequently use the Hlobane road to Pongola, fear that the new “incredibly high” speed humps put up in the Shoba area will do more harm than good.
Many took to social media to voice their fear over these “beastly things”, describing them as “death traps”. Even officials at the Department of Transport admit that they received a few emails and phone-calls in this regard.
In a letter to the editor, a Vryheid Herald reader, using the pseudonym ‘Concerned Driver’, described her experience driving over the speed humps.
“I know this road is notorious for accidents and has seen many fatalities. I understand the reasoning behind trying to curtail the number of accidents, but these humps are to be experienced to be believed!” complained ‘Concerned Driver’.
“They are incredibly high and unless drivers slow down to 10 or 15 kph, they will do serious damage to the underside of any modern vehicle (except, perhaps, the ever-popular 4 x 4 twin cab). I, myself, went over the first one at a much slower pace than indicated on the speed notices and still scraped the bottom of my car. Who will pay for the claims made to Zululand Municipality? I predict there will probably be many.”
While members of the community speculate that the reason for the speed humps may be to protect the residents of the informal settlement that has mushroomed in the area, and their livestock, they question whether the decision to put up the speed humps were properly thought through.
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‘Concerned driver’ continued, “I foresee many more accidents occurring, because if a car is unaware of their existence and approaches these things at even 60 kph (the new speed limit sign indicates this speed) there is the possibility that the vehicle will overturn. Yes, they are that high! On my way home today, although the cars were going extremely slowly over them, it was obvious that drivers were becoming frustrated and were taking evasive measures to try and avoid them. More accidents waiting to happen! What about ambulances that regularly have to fly up and down this road? Rather defeats the purpose, I think!”
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AbaQulusi mayor, Jerry Sibiya, said that he had driven out to the area to experience the speed humps himself, after he received complaints about how high they were.
“The motorists are right. The humps are quite high,” agreed Cllr Sibiya, who promised to take it up with the Department of Transport.
This week, the Department of Transport undertook to reduce the height of the humps but motorists doubt that this will make any significant difference with regards to safety.
Cllr Sibiya said that he was still engaging with the Department of Transport to see what could be done, but had some great news of his own for motorists, “Through our engagements, the Department of Transport has appointed two contractors to repair all the potholes on the road from Vryheid to Dundee, as well as all the potholes on the road from Vryheid to Pongola. We are committed to doing what we can to ensure the safety of our road users,” he said.
